First Strike: Mass Effect 3 Novelization by CD
by The Metalist
Summary: The culmination of the mass effect universe. This story is written as how i thought it should have ended. I love this series, and its ending galvanized me into writing this. Hope you guys enjoy it. Embrace Eternity! - CD Hope you guys enjoy it! - The Metalist
1. Prologue: Overwhelmed

** Mass Effect: First Strike**

** By Devin**

**Prologue **

** Overwhelmed**

The vid screen was on but Shepard wasn't really paying it any attention. The Asari on the screen was talking about him actually, about his incarceration on the human race's homeworld; Earth.

_Yes, the great planet Earth, the homeworld for all of humanity_ Commander Shepard thought to himself. _I was born and raised in space; I guess that's why I never felt a real connection to this place._ Walking over to the window he paused as a news report came on.

"_In recent news, the massive influx of Batarian refugees to both the Attican traverse and Council Space has led many to believe a regime change or civil war has allowed for all of these people to flee from Hegemony space. Although the Council has declined to comment on the situation, many of the Batarian refugees are speaking of untold horrors that massacred their people, though these claims are being dismissed by several authorities as mass hysteria or hallucinations. And now we go to Enaliadasorni for the latest in cinematic…."_

Flipping the screen view off, he growled to himself. This was so like the average Council citizen, they were so wrapped up in their own wants and needs that they didn't even notice what was right in front of them.

_Batarians? Leaving the Hegemony?_ Shepardthought. It was very unlikely. The Hegemony had closed off ties to the rest of the galaxy after the council chose to support humanity over the Batarian's own interests.

Revolution? No, despite their presence as mercenaries in different bands across the Terminus, Batarians were far less a militaristic species than their human rivals, hence their unwillingness to use anything past terror plots to combat the Alliance.

There was another possibility…

_The Reapers couldn't have possibly made it to the galaxy proper that fast. _Shepard realized that it was desperate thinking, but that desperation had been one of the few things keeping him sane during his incarceration. That despite his being out of the action, there were still plenty of people out there with time enough to make preparations for the invasion.

From what little information he had managed to gather however; the Council was still just trying to wish it away, and the Alliance was still shaking off the losses sustained at the battle of the Citadel over three years ago.

Shaking his head he looked out the window at the great city that stretched out in all directions. Vancouver was in the United States of North America, and it had become one of its major economic and militaristic centers in the past thirty years.

The city had been quick to expand, and it now housed a population of over twenty three million humans, with a small population of aliens, mostly Asari, living there as well. Looking around he could just faintly make out a small boy playing with some sort of a model or toy in one of the small parks that people seemed to favor here.

Squinting his eyes he finally managed to discern that the toy that the boy was playing with was a small Alliance fighter model. As the boy played a pair of real fighters streakedoverhead. The boy raced after them, holding his toy up high as if it were one of those fighters flying high up in the sky.

A knock at the door made Shepard turn around, and it opened to reveal the large figure of James Vega. Shooting a crisp salute Vega said "Commander Shepard, Admiral Anderson sent me to get you"

Shaking his head at the younger man "You're not supposed to call me that anymore James" Shepard answered.

"Yeah and I'm not supposed to salute either, but that doesn't stop me" Vega replied. Already moving towards the door Shepard nodded, and the two men began to walk to the assembly chambers. All around them military personnel were rushing about in a sense of urgency. Techs, officers, and even the occasional armored trooper were hurrying to their destinations, and more than one wore a look of worry.

When he asked Vega about it, the younger man seemed as concerned as he did. "I don't know, the top brass have been giving everyone strange orders today, I guess all of that business in the Hegemony has people scared" Vega replied. Shepard was about to question him further when he heard someone call his name. Looking up the stairs he saw the familiar figure of David Anderson walking briskly towards the.

"Damn good to see you son" Anderson said, grasping his hand and giving it a good shake. Motioning for them to follow he said "You look good, might be a bit thick around the middle, but that's all. Continuing he asked "How's off duty life treating you?"

"It's not so bad once you get used to soft beds and hot food." In truth Shepard wasn't used to a non-military life anymore. It didn't seem right to sit in a room and do nothing while his friends were out there preparing for the worst. Thanks to the Alliance, he hadn't been able to contact them since he had turned himself in.

They had taken him and the Normandy and he had been whisked away to this place, unable to talk to any of his companions since then. The last thing he had told them was to prepare for the war, and for them to take care of themselves. To be honest, he really hadn't expected any different treatment but he still would have liked the opportunity to talk to his squad.

"Been keeping yourself busy I'd imagine" Anderson said as they walked, Shepard noticed that something seemed off about the man, he walked as if he carried a heavy burden on his shoulders.

"Yeah, not much to do except watch the vids and that got old quickly, the only thing they reported was celebrity relationships and my falling out with the Alliance. No mention of the Reapers or even the collectors except on those theoretical shows." Shepard replied.

Anderson nodded and only said "I can imagine." Without pausing he lowered his voice and spoke quickly. "Shepard there's something big coming, we've detected something heading this way, and Hackett has ordered all resources mobilized."

Shepard stopped and simply said "The reapers" several people paused and stared at him and he realized that he had spoken loudly. "

Shepard we don't know what it could be, that's one of the reasons why we're taking you to this committee-" he began.

"What else could it be Anderson?" he said angrily. "What use is there in talking to a committee?" Shepard met the older man's eyes and saw desperation in them, as well as more than a shred of fear.

Anderson looked down at him and said "Shepard the vids were right about one thing, you have fallen out of grace with, well everyone. The point is this committee is to determine if the threat you proposed is actually a credible one-"

"A credible threat?" Shepard said incredulously.

"Yes Shepard, they believe that since your involvement with Cerberus that you are not a trustworthy source anymore" Anderson said to him.

"I have done nothing except protect these people and this galaxy since I was appointed!" Shepard shot back. "I even destroyed a Mass Relay to deny those monstrosities a chance to get the jump on us!

Their argument was drawing more than a few stares and Vega looked quite uncomfortable with two of his superiors having a verbal sparring match in front of everyone, though neither man noticed it.

"Yes and because of that hundreds of thousands of Batarians died." Anderson said to him, his voice with a hint of anger.

"It was either us or them Dammit!" Shepard continued, but the fire had left his voice. "I tried to warn the colony, I really did, but the Reapers had indoctrinated the team and they stopped me, I failed."

His mind raced back to that event, being knocked out by Kenneson, having no chance to warn the Batarians and being forced to fight the remaining indoctrinated commandos, before finally activating the engines on the asteroid and even talking to Harbinger personally. He remembered the Reapers cold voice, so vast, so distant, yet tainted with disdain. So far both of the Reapers he had spoken to, Harbinger and Sovereign, talked as if he were vermin, and they were the exterminators.

Anderson placed a hand on his shoulder and Shepard met his eyes again, the anger had left his eyes and was replaced with understanding. "I believe you Shepard, about the Collectors, the Alpha relay, everything."

They began walking again. Shepard had to ask "Even the Reapers?"

"Of course I do, hell you talked to one, then blew the damn thing up" Anderson replied with certainty. "You're a hero in my book son; I just hope you can convince the rest of the galaxy like you convinced me." The three men were almost there, Shepard could see the doors to the chamber. Bumping into someone he was about to murmur an apology until he saw who it was.

"Shepard, is that you?" Ashley Williams asked.

"Ash?" Shepard said uncertainly. "You look, different." She really did, she had grown her hair out past shoulder level, abandoning the bun that she had used for so long. She had on a blue uniform and a single earring in her left ear.

"Yeah well things change when you're gone for two years. How's Cerberus treating you? Her voice could have frozen the sun.

"Ashley I'm not with Cerberus, I never was. I just worked with them to fight the Reapers." Shepard said in a careful tone.

Before she could reply Anderson grabbed his arm and motioned for Vega to remain behind with Ashley. Before they were out of earshot Shepard heard Vega ask her if she knew him. Ashley replied by saying "I used to."

(**)

Shepard walked into Committee chamber, on the far side he saw three people who he did not recognize, they all wore Admiral's regalia and all three had a look of worry on their faces. One was an older bald headed white man. The second was a woman with flecks of Caucasian and Middle Eastern heritage in her looks, and she had her not quite fully gray hair wrapped up in a bun on her head.

She was the only one Shepard knew, Admiral Jasmine Townsend, she had asked him about the Geth during the Eden Prime War a few years back. At the time she had seemed a strong woman, now she was obviously drained; her eyes were dark and her face drawn.

And unless Shepard was mistaken, there was a faint sheen on her teeth, a trait commonly associated with someone who was addicted to Red Sand. _An admiral this high up in the ranks, a duster?_ Shepard thought to himself _things must really be falling apart._ The last was a darker skinned man with hair cut short but not fully to the average military standard.

"Shepard, I suppose you're wondering why we called you here today." The bald headed man began.

The Admirals exchanged glances.

Townsend took over. "We've lost contact with our outer outposts, and our scanners are picking something massive on the long range scanners."

"It has to be the Reapers Admiral, and you know as well as I do that we aren't ready to for them."

"Shepard, please. Is there any way that we can defeat them?" The man sounded desperate.

"There must be something that we can do" Townsend pleaded. Shepard thought carefully about his answer. Shepard ignored them and took a deep breath.

In truth he had no prepared response to this, nor did he have some end all strategy that they evidently expected him to bring to the table. So he did what he was best at, he said the honest truth to them.

"We do the only thing we can do; we fight or we die." Shepard said grimly.

The entire room had gone quiet. Even Anderson had a stricken look on his face.

"That's it?" the bald man said incredulously. "That's all you can say?"

Before Shepard could respond one of the techs nearby suddenly spoke up, alarm in his voice. "Admirals, we've just lost contact with Arcturus Station!" other techs spoke up, reporting lost contact with other colonies and bases before someone yelled that all contacts beyond the solar system had been lost. Shepard felt a cold feeling in his gut as he realized what was happening.

"We just lost contact with Luna base!" a panicky tech blurted, her voice high.

"How could they have gotten through our defenses so quickly?" Townsend said disbelief in her voice.

The cold feeling in his gut had now turned to ice, as he realized how close they actually were. Suddenly one of the techs said that they were receiving a message from London, he put it up on the monitor for everyone to see.

The vid was hazy and the audio was damaged so it was all static coming through. A soldier was yelling something at the camera, there was an ear-splitting noise and a burst of flame from behind him. His words couldn't be understood and the video cut out as soon as it had begun.

The video cut out abruptly and the tech that put it up said in a shaky voice "nothing else is coming through" The building began to shake, looking out the window Shepard could see it land in the middle of the city.

"Oh my god" Townsend gasped. Shepard had just enough time to shout a warning and take a step before the Reaper opened up with its laser, tearing into the front of the building and sending debris and bodies towards him. He felt something hit him like a truck, and he smacked back against the wall, he fell onto the floor and was vaguely aware of Anderson running towards him yelling something.

(**)

"Shepard! Shepard can you hear me?" Anderson yelled into the younger man's ear. He looked dazed and he didn't seem to be responding to verbal stimuli. Jerking his head up he looked around the destroyed room trying to find a medical kit. Spotting one somehow still latched on to the wall he rushed over to it, attempting to ignore the shattered bodies he had to tread upon to get there.

Upon reaching the unit he attempted to open it, it had taken a hit from debris in the explosion and had been bent quite out of shape, so it took a moment to pry the lid open. Taking the two medi-gel canisters he rushed back to his fallen friend, loading one of the canisters into his Omni-tool as he ran.

Once he had reached Shepard he activated the dispersal unit on the Omni-tool and it automatically administered the Medi-gel while also giving readouts of the damage he had sustained. Shepard had taken a minor concussion from the blast, but the Medi-gel would be able to heal it up just fine. Groaning Shepard shivered as the substance traveled through his bloodstream, shaking his head he accepted the arm Anderson proffered before mouthing a thanks.

"Anytime Shepard" Anderson replied. "We have to get to the Normandy and get out of here" nodding Shepard walked over to a dead soldier and took a moment to close the man's eyes, which were still wide with apparent disbelief, before taking the man's sidearm and tossing it to Anderson, as well as a pair of thermal clips.

Attempting to radio the Normandy, Anderson ran out of the room, something must have happened to his comm. device during the fight, it wasn't working correctly. Walking out of the door they caught a glimpse of a massive Reaper unleashing its weapon, the laser cut right through the buildings as if they were butter.

Already most of the city was in flames, a squadron of fighters flew towards the massive ship, only to be blown out of the sky when it aimed its laser at them, cutting them down with surgical precision. The two men watched the spectacle with grim looks on their faces, nodding at each other they walked into the fray.

They were hard pressed to get anywhere close to a clear area; the Reapers had achieved utter surprise and were breaking through defenses as if they were cardboard. Clearing through some rubble he noticed suddenly that Shepard wasn't with him. Looking over his shoulder he saw that he was looking through some sort of a vent.

"Shepard" he called out. Shepard jumped and glanced back into the vent. "There was a boy… never mind." standing up he shouldered the assault rifle he had found. "Let's go."

(**)

Lieutenant James Vega was screwed; he knew that when he had woken up this morning and had his breakfast been interrupted by a woman giving him orders to bring Shepard to the Committee room. His day had gone down further when he talked to Shepard, brought him to Anderson as ordered, and accidently bumped into Lieutenant Commander Williams. Then he had been surrounded by superior officers all arguing with each other, attempting to ease the moment after Anderson and Shepard had left he had asked Williams if she had known him, and she had gone from frosty to absolute zero.

Telling him to follow her to the Normandy they had gone off together, he had considered asking her another question but she had looked murderous, so, wanting to keep his bread and butter intact, had said nothing. Things had been going relatively fine before that giant ass Reaper showed up and started blowing shit up left and right.

Williams had recognized it immediately and whipped out her assault rifle in the time that it took Vega to mouth a curse... Shouting that they needed to get to the Normandy she started running full clip towards the docks, swearing he followed her.

Again things had been going well until something unforeseen decided to pop in and rear its ugly face. This time in the form of some kind of zombie, machine, Batarian thing. Roaring a squad of the things had rushed him and Williams, and now here they were, pinned down behind a crashed shuttle being ceaselessly fired upon. All things considered, probably not one of his better mornings.

Sighting up he fired a burst, taking the heads off of a pair of the human looking Reaper-drones, Williams kept calling them husks, and they certainly seemed like the textbook definition of a husk. All of the Reaper-drones looked like they had taken their original forms, bloated or shrunken them down, and replaced all of the muscle and tissue with tech, so they had the appearance of robotic zombies.

"It's been a while since I fought these things; I've forgotten how much they annoy me." Williams shouted at him. Priming a grenade he located his target and hurled it at a small group of the Batarian things he decided to call cannibals. The blast blew them apart, wasting no time the two humans bolted across the bridge that the enemy had been positioned on. "

Annoy you?" he asked her as they moved forward. Glancing back over his shoulder he looked at the fired corpses that had once been the husks. "I'd hate to be on your bad side if that's what you do to people who irritate you."

She chuckled and put her hand to her ear. "Looks like things are going pretty badly, Hackett's ordered the fleet to evacuate Sol, and most of the comm. buoys have been knocked out."

Hearing a metallic roar Vega turned around and saw another one of the towering behemoths walking around the city, ignoring the fire that was hitting it. He forced himself to watch as it tore into a unit's position, not even breaking stride as it fired its laser at a group of shuttles that had been attempting to evacuate the civilians. Turning away from the carnage he and Williams jogged the last hundred meters to the docks.

A burst of chatter came over his radio suddenly; he recognized the voice speaking as that of Joker, the Normandy's pilot. "Hey Ashley if you want to you know, get on the ship before the Reapers blow it up again that would be great."

A calmer feminine voice chimed in after he finished speaking. "Technically Jeff, the Collectors were the ones who destroyed the first _Normandy_, if the Reapers were to destroy this vessel, it would be their first time doing so." Vega could see the _Normandy_ now, it looked as if the Reaper forces hadn't penetrated this area yet, compared to the rest of the city, and this place was fine.

"Well the Collectors were just indoctrinated and genetically enhanced Reaper slaves, so you could say that they blew up the ship by proxy you know?" Joker argued. Vega and Williams finally reached the ship and its docking bay door opened up, allowing them to get inside.

"Only you could argue with a computer about whether or not we could tally the loss of this ship as a Reaper or Collector kill while the planet is being invaded Joker" she said into the comm. as the door sealed behind them.

"Glad you missed me Lt." Joker replied smugly.

Feeling the ship lift off the ground Vega and Ashley walked towards the pilot's seat where Vega could just make out the top of Joker's cap. "Is it me or does this place just keeps getting weirder and weirder?" he asked of no one in particular.

"Oh just wait until you hear about Garrus's calibrations, or that awesome picture that I took of Shepard when I caught him half smiling half grimacing." Joker answered enthusiastically.

A burst of chatter came over the comm.; "_Normandy_ this is Anderson, I've got the commander and we need immediate evac"

Joker was already directing the ship towards the location of the transmission. The man's grin had been replaced by one of concentration. "Roger that Admiral, on our way."

Vega walked over to Williams, who nodded towards the window, looking out he could just make out a small but violent firefight far below.

"Calvary has arrived gentlemen!" Joker announced as they flew closer. Joker took the opportunity to annihilate some Reaper troops near as they flew over-top of them.

"Come on Vega lets go meet our guests of honor." She told him.

"Right behind you Lt." moving quickly they reached the docking bay just in time to see Shepard and Anderson mop up the last of a group of Cannibals. Flagging them over Vega watched as a pair of shuttles landed near the fighting troops.

(**)

Shepard ran towards the ship and had one foot inside before he noticed that Anderson hadn't followed him. Turning around Shepard looked down at the older man, "Anderson?" A shuttle landed nearby, Anderson took a step backwards towards it.

"I'm not going Shepard, I've got to stay behind, I can help from here while you help out there." Anderson called out to him.

Shepard shook his head; "if you're staying then I will too, I'm not going to leave you here behind."

Anderson met his gaze and said in a firm voice; "Shepard you need to go to the Citadel! You need to convince the Council. We'll need them and all of their fleets to even have a chance at defeating the Reapers." Looking the younger man in the eyes he could see the protest in them.

"Now go! That's an order dammit!"

" I don't take orders from you remember?" Shepard shot back.

Anderson reached into his pocket and tossed a pair of dog tags at Shepard. "Consider yourself reinstated Commander."

Shepard felt sadness grip at him, "I'll be back Anderson. I promise you that.

Stepping up into the shuttle Anderson said one final thing to him "Good luck son, I'll see you soon." The marines jumped aboard and the shuttle lifted off. He watched as the last of refugees jumped on the evac shuttles desperately trying to escape as the overwhelmed Alliance troops attempted to fight off the Reaper ground troops.

His eyes widened as he saw the same child from the park, the one he had talked to in the vent. The child held a hand up to his face then scrambled up into one of the shuttles, the door closed and they started to lift up. Before they could get very far, a Reaper came around from behind a building, it shot its laser and both of the shuttles were utterly annihilated.

Horrified Shepard looked away; walking towards Vega and Ashley he said "Anderson was right about one thing, we need allies. We need to go to the Citadel."

Vega suddenly spoke up "Commander are we really leaving? Are we really going to abandon everyone?" His voice was filled with anger and his face showed his anxiety.

"We're not abandoning anyone James, but we can't expect to win this war by ourselves, it will take everyone, every species to even have a chance at victory." Vega shook his head and walked away muttering something about duty.

Suddenly EDI's voice came over the comm.; "Shepard we are receiving an incoming transmission from Admiral Hackett.

"Thanks EDI, I'm on my way." The ship had been remodeled again, and although the basic framework was the same, there were enough significant changes to disorient him for a moment.

Eventually he managed to find his way to the comm. terminal. Accessing it, an image popped up, it was garbled and filled with static, but a barely recognizable figure was present, it was definitely Hackett but he couldn't understand just what he was saying. "EDI, can you clear this up at all?" he asked.

"The Reaper jamming signals are difficult to penetrate Shepard, but I believe that I can do as you asked." Suddenly the transmission came through clearly.

"Shepard it's good to see you alive, where is Admiral Anderson?" Hackett said.

"He stayed behind sir, he wanted to help the people on Earth, he told me to go to the Citadel and gather allies." Shepard told his superior.

Hackett nodded as if unsurprised by this news. "Earth will need someone like him; we lost a lot of people, good people, in the attack."

Hackett paused for a moment. "I haven't been able to contact Captain Hannah, Shepard, but she was stationed away from Earth, so odds are she was able to avoid the initial invasion."

Shepard let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding "Thank you sir, I appreciate your looking into it".

Hackett nodded "Anderson was right about one thing; we need allies. But before you go to the Citadel, I need you to check out something closer to home."

Continuing Hackett said "you remember the Prothean bunker on Mars? I asked Dr. T'Soni to investigate them and see if she could find data on the Reapers, that was several weeks ago. We lost contact with every outpost in the Sol system when Earth was attacked, we don't think Mars has been hit yet, but I don't want to wait until they do.

Shepard felt the tight feeling in his gut again. _Dammit I hope she's safe. _

"I need you to get to Mars before that happens Shepard, find Dr. T'Soni and get any data that she might have." Hackett told him.

Nodding Shepard said "I won't let you down sir."

"I know you won't Shepard, Hackett out."

The transmission ended and he tapped into the ship's intercom, "Joker set a course for Mars, we're picking up an old friend"


	2. The Fire Spreads

**Chapter 1**

**The Fire Spreads **

Doctor Liara T'Soni woke with a jolt, sending papers and a few datapads flying about, and unwittingly punching a glass of water, sending it flying across the room where it shattered against the wall, the contents trickling down its surface, seeping into the carpet.

Embarrassed she stood up, realizing as she did so that she was still in her uniform, further embarrassed she set about cleaning up the room. Using her biotics she was able to pick up all of the glass and throw it into the waste basket while she used her hands to pick up the papers. Packing them into a neat stack she put them on her nightstand, pausing she picked up the picture that was sitting there.

It was showing a picture of the SSV _Normandy_, the original vessel, the one that had been instrumental in taking down Saren Arterius. One of the employees that had helped bring all of the material that she had been using had asked about it, and the man had seemed surprised when she said that she had served on it.

The fact that he hadn't known about her service hadn't surprised her, despite numerous reports focusing on her, and the other non-humans, most of the attention had gone to Shepard, deservedly so. Touching the screen the image shifted, now displaying a picture of him.

He was standing with then-Councilor Anderson, and despite his efforts to remain serious, it was obvious that he was struggling to keep a grin at bay. Anderson was making no such efforts, his arm was slung around Shepard's shoulders and a proud grin dominated his face. The photo had been taken a few days after the Battle of the Citadel, and was one of the few of the men that hadn't been taken by some reporter.

_He never really got used to being in the spotlight, Goddess none of us did, but he used to always brush off their compliments and questions. He said it had been a matter of duty._Liara thought to herself.

Touching the screen she cycled through the pictures, they displayed many places that she had been, and the people that she had known. The first few were of her friends; Ashley, and Tali dancing in Flux while Shepard sat leaning against the wall while Liara leaned on _him_.

Garrus and Shepard having a sniping contest using a pair of intact Geth heads as targets, Wrex on Tuchunka, examining the planet, looking as close to serene as a Krogan could get.

The next one was of Ilos; she had managed to snap a few pictures with her Omni-tool right before they had met Vigil, the Prothean VI that had guarded the world during the last cycle, how amazing that place had been!

If only she could have studied the facility right then, she no longer felt the connection to the Protheans that she's once had. Since the _Normandy_ was attacked she had focused only on stopping the Reapers, and keeping her friends safe.

Deep within her she knew that she had lost something when she watched the ship die, a spark had been burnt out within her and replaced by the cold calculating personality she had now.

Hesitating before switching she looked at the last two images. The first had been taken on the Normandy; Shepard held her in his arms and both were laughing. She smiled at the memory. Shepard had come up from behind and grabbed her; surprised she had almost sent a singularity at him. He had reacted by lifting her up and spinning around, giving someone the opportunity to capture the moment.

Tapping the image again it was of her with Shepard in the captain's cabin. She had her head on his chest and he had his arm wrapped around her, even in this picture taken so long ago he seemed to have stress on his shoulders, his eyes were those of a tired yet content man. They were both smiling, made happy merely by being in each other's presence.

That was the last picture that had been taken of the old _Normandy_; it had been destroyed by the Collectors two days later.

Tears welled in her eyes at the memory, the event had been burned into her mind, and she could remember every single intricate detail of that day. She had woken after Shepard and had dressed in her usual green uniform. She had eaten a light breakfast with a particularly foul-mouthed marine named Palawen, and she had gone off to chat with Tali when the ship moaned, and an explosion blew her off her feet.

Within seconds the deck had been burning;the screams still rang in her ears. She remembered racing to the armory and leaping into the first suit of armor she could find, which had been one of Ashley's pink and white suits.

She remembered Shepard's voice over the loudspeakers, ordering everyone to abandon ship, and how she had argued with Joker, first telling them begging him to follow the order.

She had run to Shepard, who was attempting to fight the fires. She had wanted to stay with him, but he had ordered her to go… and she had. Leaving him on the ship, where he would end up sacrificing his life to save that of Joker.

To say that she had been an emotional wreck would be an understatement, and it hadn't taken too much effort on the part of Cerberus to convince her to help the retrieve Shepard's body.

She had fought agents of both the Shadow Broker and the Collectors, and when she had possession of the fallen man she had willingly given him over to Cerberus, leaving him to be repaired by the organization.

Liarahad then focused on her own private war with the Broker, which would become a sort of obsession. It had culminated when she, Shepard, and Garrus Vakarian had stormed the Shadow Broker's personal vessel on Hagalaz.

They had met, fought, and killed the great beast that was the Shadow Broker, and Liara became the new Shadow Broker, in order to better aid Shepard and his team. It had been six months ago when that had happened.

The base had been a fountain of useful intelligence, but Cerberus struck at it soon after Shepard broke away from them. She had managed to save most of the data and she had even taken out the cruiser they had sent by ramming the broker's ship into it.

_Goddess, it seems like only yesterday that I had been in that room, sobbing in his arms. _Closing her eyes she thought back to right after she had become the Shadow Broker, Shepard had invited her to the new _Normandy_. She had talked to Joker, Tali, and Garrus before going up to his cabin.

Shepard had joked around with her, saying that after beating the Reapers he would want to settle down with her and have "lots of little blue children". She had made him promise to always come back to her, and he had accepted on one condition.

She smiled slyly; both of them had enjoyed that _condition_ thoroughly. She had seen him a few more times since then, the last time being right before he had turned himself and the _Normandy_ in to Alliance command. Six months ago, thanks to her connections she knew exactly where he was and what he was doing at any given time.

It wasn't really stalking, but it was close to it. She knew that he often times watched the news or spent his time reading old books on his Omni-tool. He had tried ninety-seven times to contact members of his old squad, and had tried to call her personally thirty nine times.

Sighing she put the picture back on her nightstand, and walked briskly towards her research station, deciding not to take a shower or eat, her task had to take priority.

She was on Mars; the site of the first human contact with Prothean technology, this planet proved to humanity that there was indeed other intelligent life in the galaxy. That event would lead to the discovery of the Sol Relay, the First Contact War, all the way up to the present day.

Hundreds of thousands of zetabytes of Prothean data had been stored here, and even now the Alliance's best scientists were doing their best to piece together the data, most of which still lay encrypted within the confines of the ancient bunker.

She was the only alien here, and much of the initial suspicion had not worn off during the time she had spent in her research. She had heard the scientists and marines mutter about her when they thought she wasn't there to hear. Why was she here? Who let her come in? What was she doing here?

She certainly had an important task, not that she could tell them of it. A few weeks ago, Admiral Hackett had contacted her old office on Ilium, requesting that her aid in a project involving the data and the Reapers.

When she had accepted his offer, he had given her special permission to visit the base and granted her access to all files and authority; enough to make even a Spectre impressed. Finally he had told her the exact details of the mission at hand; find something, anything, in these old files that could be used against the Reapers.

Since arriving here she had spent every waking moment since she arrived here looking through the files, at first it had almost seemed like a futile effort, but yesterday she had discovered a data file which might be the key, unfortunately it had not be fully translated yet, so she had turned on the translator program and went to her room, letting the machine sort it out during the night.

Eager to see just what she found, she raced to the analysis room with a sense of urgency about her. A few of the scientists walking about glanced in her direction and waved, she returned the offered gestures without pausing.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity for an elevator she finally reached her destination and was greeted by a pair of Alliance soldiers wearing their blue combat armor.

One of the men was relaxed, his helmet was off and his rifle was leaning on the wall behind him, he grinned as she approached, and he examined her with green eyed intensity. A bar on his chest identified him as Private D. Johnson, though it wasn't really needed, the man had been trying to win her affection since she had arrived.

The other looked like he came straight out of a recruitment video. He was standing with his rifle in his hands, armed and ready for combat. He had his helmet on and acknowledged her presence with a nod. His bar, cleaned and shiny, read J. Morson.

The first man's smile broadened when he noticed her looking at him. "Anything spectacular you're researching today Dr. T'Soni? Maybe some long lost Prothean advertisement for a toothbrush?" he asked. She heard Morson murmur something like 'idiot", but Daniel didn't take her eyes off of him.

"Daniel when you've been an archaeologist for as long as I have you find everything spectacular, even something like a toothbrush" she answered carefully. This man seemed to think that his pretty eyes would charm her; it was laughable to say the least.

His companion on the other hand was utterly professional about his job.

"Identification and pass please Doctor" he asked her in a neutral tone.

Daniel sighed in exasperation. "Come on Morson, how many beautiful Asari are running around in this hole?" grinning at her again he continued. "I think we can give her the benefit of the doubt here."

Morson ignored him, he took the credentials that Liara offered him and scanned them, satisfied he returned them and went back to his position. "You may proceed into the analysis room Doctor T'Soni." He told her.

"Thank you Private" Liara said back to him, she started to walk past, but was intercepted. "Hey, Doctor T'Soni would you like to grab a meal at the mess with me after you're done in there?" he asked hopefully.

"Daniel, it was flattering the first time, but I've repeatedly told you that I am in a relationship." She replied.

The man's smile didn't waver, but he moved out of the way. He gave her one last wink as she stepped into the lab.

(**)

Daniel's grin faded after she left, he suddenly grabbed his helmet and rifle and looked to his companion. "I'm going to the can right quick Morson, won't be too long." He said with a hint of mockery in his voice.

Morson nodded at him, and went back to his post. Daniel walked around the corner and dashed to the next hallway, walking to the security station he gazed at the two men standing there. _To save the many, the few must be sacrificed_ He thought as he walked towards the guards, he removed his knife, the men had no helmets and it would be quieter.

(**)

The room was large, the voices of the guards and scientists echoed off of the walls in an almost disorienting manner. A large vid screen on one of the walls was broadcasting the news; it looked like they were trying to broadcast something from Earth but all that was getting through was static. A grumbling technician was attempting to fix the picture.

_No matter how advanced technology gets you can always rely on it to break when its most inconvenient _Liara thought kept walking and tried to hide a smile as the tech started swearing loudly to another man over his radio, who was responding in kind.

Once she reached a small room she hopped into a chair and accessed the computer where she had left her project last night. Keying in she let out a small cheer as she analyzed what the computer had come up with from the data. It was apparently plans for something, a device that the Protheans had planned on using against the Reapers.

It was awfully convenient, there being plans here right when they needed them. She buried the thought, if the Goddess decided to throw her a bone she wasn't going to complain.

She was about to delve further into it when she heard some sort of a commotion in the room behind her. Concerned she stood up and walked outside, the room had been flooded by people.

Liara saw dozens of scientists and troopers, even seeing Morson in the crowd. _Strange, the two men never split up, I wonder where Daniel is. _Morson looked at her and nodded towards the vid screen, the techs had finally managed to breach the static. Liara paused to listen to it.

"Repeat, the Sol system is under hostile attack, this is not a drill, enemy forces have struck at Luna base and Earth, all space-borne vessels, military and civilian are hereby ordered to evacuate the Sol system as soon as possible. Repeat, the Sol system is under hostile attack…" the video was saying.

"Oh my God…" gasped a nearby woman, her face as white as the uniform that she was wearing.

_It has to be the Reapers, oh Goddess; I thought we had more time.._ Liara thought, transitioning from surprise to horror in rapid order. Suddenly the video erupted into static then cut out completely. The room was suddenly dead quiet, a quiet that was suddenly broken by the distant sound of gunfire. Panic consumed the humans most of whom had never been around any sort of combat situation.

A pair of white armored men suddenly appeared at the entrance of the room, Liara had just enough time to make out the Cerberus insignia on their shoulder plates and throw up a barrier before they opened up.

Thanks to her biotics, she weathered the shots, but everyone else was torn to pieces, the few guards not even having enough time to fire return shots. Reaching into her belt she took out her pistol, and leapt over a nearby desk, hearing the bullets fly past her.

Looking up at a nearby terminal she could see the reflection of the Cerberus men, they were clustered together. Holding her breath she launched a Singularity at the group, all four of them were snatched off of their feet and started floating erratically around the room. Jumping up she aimed her weapon. _One bullet each_ she intoned in her head as she aimed. Four shots, four kills.

From the sounds of screaming and gunfire, there were more Cerberus troops, a lot more. Running out from the room down the hallway she used her biotics to smash a surprised trooper into a wall, her barrier catching the panicked burst he fired off. Rounding the corner she saw half a dozen more of them rushing towards the door.

Stopping she smashed the butt of her weapon into the door control, an alarm went off and the door slammed to the ground. _Goddess, how did so many of them get into the base?_She thought to herself.

Looking around she saw a vent, focusing her barrier on her hands she tore the grating off of the vent and dove inside even as more Cerberus troops rushed into the hall from the other direction.

Desperately she crawled through the vent, attempting to move faster than her pursuers, who fired at her wildly from behind. Adrenaline coursed through her, she had to escape. She had to survive.

(**)

"Shepard, I am picking up no transmissions from the base, and they are not responding to my hails. Also there is a large dust storm heading towards this area." EDI announced.

"So if you can just pick up your crazy girlfriend and get out that would be ideal Commander." Joker added in. Vega glanced over his shoulder at Shepard; so far the man had never shown any annoyance towards the pilot's wisecracks, come to think of it, neither had Williams.

Looking over his other shoulder at Williams he saw that she was watching Shepard with a wary eye. _Well this isn't awkward at all_ Vega thought to himself.

Shepard was silent for a moment, Vega wondered if Joker had pushed the man too far. "Are you sure Joker? I heard Mars has a great weather pattern this time of year, maybe you and the ship can go on a date while we go off and _find my girlfriend_" the Commander said in a wry voice.

"Thanks but no thanks Commander." Joker said brightly "I'll leave the interspecies exploits to you."

Shepard chuckled "probably for the best, don't want you breaking anything"

The shuttle neared the ground. Each of the three put their helmets on, and upon hearing the metallic click of the pressure seal, shouldered their weapons. The door slid open and Vega was the first to jump out. His feet hit the ground and a cloud of dust rose up from the ground, giving everything an even more reddish hue.

The other two were quick to join their companion. Shepard took point and they started walking down the path towards the facility. Vega paused for a moment to gaze at the gigantic wall of dust rolling across the land towards the base.

"Damn, that storm is huge, better get out of here before it smashes this place" he commented.

Williams looked at him, "what's the matter James? Is the big bad dust storm too tough for you?" she teased. Shepard chuckled as he waved them both forward.

Shepard and Vega ran in the front while Williams ran in the back. She had her sniper rifle slung on her back, but currently she, like the other two, had her assault rifle out. Just over the rise Shepard suddenly stopped dead.

"Get down!" he barked into the comm. Finding cover quickly, Vega looked over the rock he had hidden behind, using his helmet's zoom function he could barely discern several armored forms walking around a half dozen shuttles that were parked in front of the base's entrance. Squinting he could just barely make out the symbol on their chest…

"Cerberus" he sighed. Shepard nodded to Ashley who pulled out her sniper and confirmed their observation.

Looking back at the men he could make out that Cerberus had captured several Alliance personnel, one of the white armored troopers walked up, pistol in hand, and shot a single round cleanly into each of the prisoner's heads.

"Holy shit, they're executing them." Vega stammered.

"Shepard, what are they doing here?" Williams asked venom in her voice.

"You honestly expect me to know everything about an organization that I abandoned don't you?" Shepard replied, his voice cold. Vega could feel the tension rising and he shifted nervously; glad that their argument couldn't carry with their helmets on.

"No" she answered. "But Cerberus troops just happening to be here right after we get you, just happening to arrive at this base before we did, and just happening to have achieved surprise seems odd to me."

"For the last time Ashley, I worked with Cerberus to stop the Collectors, after I blew up their base I essentially spat in the Illusive Man's face, so I wouldn't imagine him inviting me to any Cerberus meetings any time soon."Shepard sounded as if he had said this line many times before, and the exasperated tone of his voice backed up that theory.

"Shepard, they brought you back to life, do you expect me to believe that you don't harbor some sort of a thought of debt towards them?" Ashley spat.

"Yes Lieutenant Commander, I expect you to believe that, because that's the honest-to-God truth, and if you don't believe that then I'm not going to waste my time trying to defend myself anymore" Shepard said anger turning to disappointment and resignation.

Shepard turned back towards the Cerberus troop's rifle ready. "Vega, you and me are going to grab their attention and hit them where it hurts. Ashley give us sniper support" He was already moving as he said the words.

"You got it Loco" Vega answered. Ashley bit out an affirmative. Vega decided to go all out and took a grenade from his belt. Shepard noticed what he was doing, told Ashley to snipe when the opportunity arose, and they both took cover behind one of the shuttles.

He armed the grenade and started to count. "One…two…three" on three he hurled the device, aiming at the largest group of hostiles. The bastards didn't even know what hit them and a half dozen were killed instantly by the resulting explosion. Another when down from a shot by Williams, and several more were killed by Shepard's assault fire.

Now normally seeing the majority of your squad die would cause most men to panic or retreat, but these Cerberus soldiers just charged right up and kept fighting.

The fight was short and deadly, but at the end the entire squad enemy lay dead on the ground, and the trio moved into the base. Walking into the main entrance, Vega quickly found and turned on the airlock controls; once the seal announced itself all of the three took off their helmets. They were on an elevator; Vega looked around for a control panel. Finding one he walked over to it and pressed the activate button. The elevator groaned in response, but started to ascend quickly enough.

After a few moments the elevator stopped, the three shouldered their weapons and proceeded into the next room, which appeared to be some sort of a garage.

There were no targets, but a sudden burst of sound made Vega jump. There was the sound of moving bodies and a single gunshot. Following the sounds Vega judged it to be coming from the ventilation shaft near the end of the room.

Suddenly there was the sound of someone kicking at the grating and when it gave way, Vega was very surprised to see an Asari come flying out of it. She hit the ground, rolled and created some sort of a biotic field that grabbed the two Cerberus men that had been following her from the shaft and threw them wildly about.

She showered them with bullets, and upon releasing the field shot them both one last time. Turning around her eyes widened and suddenly filled with relief at the sight of them.

Instinct had Vega raise his weapon to about waist level, but before he could raise it any higher Shepard put a hand on his gun "Easy James, she's definitely a friendly". He said softly. The Commander walked over to the Asari with an odd look on his face.

"Shepard... it's good to see you again." The woman said uncertainly. Upon reaching her Shepard put a hand to her face and held it there for a moment, before enveloping her in his arms and kissing her passionately.

The Asari let out a surprised noise but then returned the kiss fully, wrapping her arms around Shepard's neck. Clearing his throat, Vega looked away. _Well I guess we found Doctor T'Soni_ he thought to himself.

(**)

Breaking the kiss Shepard looked into Liara's eyes, they were as deep and blue as ever. It was funny; when her first met her he couldn't help but notice how helpless and frightened she had been, she certainly seemed bolder now. "I'm glad that you're alright" He said softly. He lowered his arms, but she didn't move away.

"I'm alright, but when I heard about the Reapers, about Earth…" She trailed off. She looked close to tears, Shepard hugged her to his chest and they remained in that position until Vega gave a polite cough. Stepping back he grinned at her, and introduced her to Vega. He smiled and extended his hand.

Shaking the proffered hand Liara stepped back and looked at Ashley. "Ashley, it's good to see you again."

"Good to see you too Liara, I'm sorry it had to be this way though."

Liara nodded "I presume Hackett sent you all here?" she asked. Shepard explained everything to her, while Vega and Ashley kept watch. The silence of the base was only penetrated by their voices.

"So did you actually find anything that we can use here Liara?" he asked after he finished. The other two both looked up at her, waiting for whatever she had to say.

Liara smiled after a moment and nodded saying "Yes" she walked over towards a window and Shepard followed her. She tapped something on her Omni-tool and several images popped up over the device.

Shepard frowned and examined the images. "They look like schematics" he said finally.

Liara's smile broadened and she nodded again. "Yes, they are plans, a blueprint, for a device of Prothean design. As far as I can discern, it was a last ditch plan hatched by the Protheans to stop the Reapers, but they ran out of time."

"So if this device is supposed to take out the Reapers, then why did Cerberus attack the base?" Vega chimed in. "I thought they were fighting against the Reapers."

"I don't know" said Liara. "One minute I was studying my finds, the next they were pouring in from everywhere. We didn't even hear an alarm."

She met Shepard's gaze. "Shepard we need to get the rest of that data." The faint sound of gunfire put emphasis on her statement

Shepard nodded. "Ashley, you, me and Liara are going for the data." He looked at Vega "James I need you to stay here and cover our six"

Vega was bristled at the order. "What?" he said angrily. "You want me to stay behind and wait around while you guys go off and fight?"

"You have to stay behind and make sure the path to the shuttle is clear, it isn't going to be very long before the Reapers come knocking at the door, and we'll need to hightail it out of here once we have what we need"

Vega grimaced and looked like he was going to protest but bit it back and rushed back towards the elevator, putting his helmet back on as he went.

Shepard reached to his side and tossed one of the new SMGs he'd grabbed off of the ship at Liara, who caught it with both hands. "You're going to need another weapon besides the pistol there, I think." He said to her with a wink. Cracking his neck, he raised his Vindicator to his shoulder and flagged his companions' forward.


	3. The First Head

**Chapter 2**

** The First Head**

The base was riddled with bullet holes, and the bodies told the tale of a one-sided fight. Several times the trio would come across a group of scientists, butchered. _They didn't even have weapons to fight back with._ Shepard thought to himself. Rounding the corner he heard voices, raising his right hand, flagging the others to stop. The women ducked down and silently crept along the side of the wall.

Glancing around the corner he saw a trio of Cerberus troops chatting. Signaling to the others, he sighted up and fired a burst at the first trooper. The man staggered back but stayed standing. Shepard fired again and was rewarded with the sight of the trooper's head exploding like a watermelon.

His companions reacted almost instantaneously to the death of their comrade, they both started to backpedal while firing wildly. Shepard rushed forward, dodging the shots fired at him and ducked under a nearby. Liara flung a warp at one of the men, who was smashed against the wall. Groaning he tried to push himself up while the last one bolted for the door, sealing it behind him.

Ashley walked up to him, aimed her weapon at his faceplate, and fired. His brains were blown across the wall, and his body slumped to the ground. She then walked up to the door and tested it. "It's locked Shepard." She reported.

"Don't worry, I think I can open it from this terminal" Liara called out. She was tapping at a nearby security terminal. Shepard walked up to it pausing in front of the video display. A dead security guard lay on top of it, his eyes still open in disbelief. He gently lowered the fallen trooper to the ground. Closing the man's eyes he stood back up and accessed the logs from before the attack.

The video displayed a _very_ attractive woman scurrying about the area, ignoring the other scientists and soldiers who acknowledged her. She walked through the door that the Cerberus trooper had fled through. Shepard continued watching, a few minutes after she had left Cerberus troops had burst in and killed all of the stunned personnel. Aside from a few videos from earlier that was all he could access from here.

When he asked Liara who the woman was she seemed surprised. "That's Doctor Eva Core, she was assigned here around the same time that I arrived. I haven't seen her for a few days; I had assumed that she had left for some reason." Frowning she typed a bit more before nodding. "It should open now, but I guarantee that we'll have warm welcome"

Chuckling Shepard walked towards the door, changing his thermal clip as he proceeded. "My, my, Doctor T'Soni, that sounded almost like you were making a joke. Have you been spending time with Joker?"

Liara spluttered something, and Shepard persisted. Are you blushing Liara?" he asked. "Because usually you have a nice dark blue tone, and right now you're pushing cyan." He laughed, and even Ashley smiled a bit Liara just shook her head.

Shepard flanked the left side of the door next to the door controls, while the women took the right side. "Liara, I need you to throw a singularity at them when I open the door." Liara nodded. Shepard looked at Ashley. "Ash, once the field is up, you and I will take care of any hostiles unaffected, understand?

"You've got it Shepard." Ashley replied. Shepard looked at them for a moment then he jammed his finger into the panel and the door opened with a hiss. No sooner had it reached the top did bullets start flying out of the room.

Liara jumped up, glowing purple as she channeled the dark energy, and hurled a singularity straight at the largest group of men. They started cursing and calling for aid as they were lifted off their feet. No sooner had she released the biotics did Liara dive back behind cover, letting several rounds ricochet off of her barrier.

Shepard and Ashley rushed in, guns blazing. Shepard fired a burst at one of the heavier armored men, and felt a blow strike him in the chest. Gasping he ducked for cover, his shield monitor emitted a high-pitched noise, conveying that his kinetic barriers were out..

"Shepard!" he heard Liara call out. "Are you alright?" her voice was filled with fear.

"Oh, I feel as well as usual." he called back, as he leaned up just far enough to get a headshot on a heavy trooper before they could return fire. The singularity was still going, and all of the men caught within it were being thrown about like dolls.

"Great" Ashley yelled above the gunfire. "Because we've got company, and it looks like these guys have a bit heavier armor than the rest of them." She was correct. Reinforcements had arrived, and not only were these men heavier armed but they also had kinetic barriers up, and a pair of them had what looked like riot shield equipped.

_Riot shields? That doesn't make sense; it hampers them more than it helps them._ Shepard thought. Sighting up he fired several bursts at them, only to see his rounds impact harmlessly into the shields. "Then again, Cerberus always did make nonsensical things work" he sighed.

The firefight continued for a bit longer, once the enemy had taken heavy enough casualties they always fled back to stronger, more defensible points.

Each time the trio gave chase, pushing forward towards the primary data core. Finally a squad of Cerberus troops bolted through a door, and sealed it behind them, just as before.

"I've got this Shepard" Liara murmured as she walked towards the security station.

"It looks like the guards here were ambushed."

Shepard and Ashley walked up to her and examined the scene. Two dead Alliance security officers were in the small room.

One was face down on the floor lying in a pool of his own blood. The other was sprawled across the video terminal; he looked as if he had been recording something when he had died.

On an impulse Shepard walked up and activated the feed; he looked up at the screen when the video was finally displayed.

"…new arrivals making things jumpy around here" the man was saying. His partner was in the background fiddling with another terminal, cursing softly. "First we got that Asari scientist, then that Core, both in less than a month." He shook his head. "We go months without a new arrival, and now two in that short a period of time?" Footsteps echoed outside the station. "Speak of the Devil" the man sighed.

The trooper acknowledged her. "Doctor, we were just about to get to you-" he stopped mid-sentence when the woman suddenly pulled out a pistol and shot the distracted guard in the back of the head, then turned to him and fired a single shot into his horrified face. The man twisted around in his chair and fell face forwards onto the terminal. Eva Core walked up to the screen, aiming at the camera; the last image was that of the barrel of her gun.

Liara gasped and put her hand to her mouth. Stepping back she took her hand from her mouth and said in a horrified tone "Oh Goddess, I had no idea."

Ashley looked at Shepard "I'm guessing we just found the person who let Cerberus in."

Nodding he looked at Liara whose eyes were still glazed over. "Liara, can we get through?"

His voice seemed to shake her out of her stupor and she murmured an affirmative. Moving to the door they performed the same procedure as before, again encountering heavy resistance, as the enemy fell back they rounded a corner. The trio chased after them, only to suddenly encounter heavy fire from an auto-turret.

"Damn!" Shepard swore. "That thing's got us right where it hurts." The turret was massive, and the few shots they had managed to pick off at it hardly seemed to damage it in the slightest.

"The turret has a weakness Shepard!" Liara said. "It can turn past a certain point"

"So if we stick to cover and bolt when it goes to reload we can get past it?" Ashley asked. When Liara nodded she grinned at Shepard. "You'd think they'd have fixed that. Alright Commander, can you still sprint like a champ?" Without waiting for an answer she burst from their position and ducked behind a steel box right as the turret sighted in on her.

Sighing Shepard followed suit, and behind him Liara. Each of them ran from position to position while the turret fired at them. They proceeded in this fashion until they were eventually able to reach a point where the turret could no longer turn to get a fix, just as Liara had said.

Unfortunately they were immediately beset upon awaiting Cerberus troops, and they were hard pressed to push them back. Once they had dealt with the ambush Liara gestured to a window. "Look!" Following her gesture he could see a tramway heading towards another complex. He could just barely make out a firefight in one of the cars.

"The Alliance is still putting up a fight!" Ashley reported.

Liara looked at Shepard "Shepard, we have to get to that tram, it's the only way to access the data" she said anxiously.

Nodding Shepard said "Come on, we can't wait all day!" and started running for the tram with the ladies right behind him. They encountered one more squad of Cerberus, but there was no tram, both were on the other side.

"Damn it, is there any way that we can bring it back?" Shepard asked.

Liara shook her head. "They've damaged the terminal on this side; the only way to get it back is for the people on the other side to send it to us."

"Well let's just grab one of their comm. units and try to convince them to come back over." Ashley said brightly. Walking over to one of the dead men she took off his helmet and suddenly gasped leaping back.

"Oh God, he looks like a husk." She said her voice tinged with horror.

The description was apt; the man looked as if his skin and veins had been turned into metal. And his eyes had the blue-soulless look of a husk.

"You see Shepard? How could I trust you when you were associated with people like this?" she accused, gesturing to the dead man. "For all I knew you were like him"

"So I'm a husk now?" Shepard said, his anger finally rushing over. "Ashley I am not some drone in service of The Illusive Man, or the Reapers!"

"How do you know Shepard? What if right now they're directing you without your knowing?" she countered, her voice was tinged with hysteria.

"Ashley, that doesn't even make sense!" Shepard shot back. "If you have a problem with me, fine, but don't you ever think that my mind is anyone's but my own." He told her angrily.

Ashley shook her head and walked over to the side. Shepard looked down at the man, no the husk. _I'm not like them; I'm me, aren't I? _He wasn't sure anymore. Cerberus had rebuilt him, and they had had access to Reaper tech even back then. Could they have put some sort of programming in his cybernetics?

He felt a hand take his own and glanced up to see Liara holding it. She didn't say anything but he felt better just the same. He buried his thoughts and kneeled down, ripping the man's comm. unit from his helmet. Using his Omni-tool he accessed the channel.

"Hello, this is….Delta team, we've taken out the Alliance infiltrators, but you guys left us behind here, can you send the tram back?"

"Where the hell have you been?" the man demanded. "Never mind, sending the tram now"

He turned off the comm. and in a few moments the tram became visible again. "Showtime" he muttered as he sighted up.

(**)

The men sent across were quite surprised when they were suddenly attacked, so surprised in fact that they died without even firing off a shot. Ashley gave one of the bodies a good kick. _She can't honestly believe that Shepard is like these men _thought Liara.

During their travels, Ashley had always looked up to Shepard trusting him completely, but on the other hand, the woman had always been suspicious of everything remotely alien to her.

Liara remembered how she had vocally protested to having alien crew members on the Normandy, a sentiment that had been shared with the majority of the crew. Over time they had overcome all of their differences, and the non-humans and humans trusted each other completely, becoming friends, or in her case, more than friends. Glancing at Shepard, who was fiddling with the controls, she continued thinking.

It was strange to think that Ashley trusted an Asari, especially an Asari whose mother had been indoctrinated, more than her former Commander. Liara hoped that they could settle things soon, because it looked like Shepard's patience was running thin.

Shepard activated the tram and it started moving, as it neared its destination an automated voice came over the loud speaker. "Warning, atmospheric integrity in research station 88B-DI has been compromised. All tramway users are encouraged to use protective equipment"

"Helmets!" Shepard barked. Ashley and Shepard both hooked their helmets on; reaching into her pocket Liara produced her rebreather and placed it on her head. While it wasn't suited for space use, the rebreather was efficient enough for exposure to Mars' atmosphere.

The car rolled into the port, and Shepard was the first to jump off. Liara heard him sigh over the comm. Ashley followed him "What-oh" she said.

Liara walked to the door and her eyes widened at the sight. There were bodies everywhere; they had not been killed by gunfire. "Goddess, they just vented the atmosphere and let these people suffocate." They walked further into the waiting area, people lay everywhere, dying even as they had tried in vain to open the door into the rest of the base. Shepard kneeled down and picked up a small handheld datapad and examined it. Patching it into his comm. he played the last recorded conversation.

It was between a pair of scientists who were discussing the new arrivals. In the middle of the conversation Eva Core walked briskly past them, ignoring their attempts to communicate, she sealed the door behind her, a few moments later the atmospheric seals were lifted and everyone inside was exposed.

"The Doctor must have released the seals when she went through here." Shepard muttered.

"So she's working for Cerberus, has butchered numerous civilian and military personnel in this base, is responsible for Cerberus taking the facility, and now she is trying to steal the Prothean data?" Ashley asked

"Yes" Liara replied.

"What say we make her pull a Saren?" Ashley suggested as Shepard walked to the door.

Shepard when he reached it he touched the panel on the wall, and jumped back when it opened. On the other side there was a short hallway, they walked in, and the door behind them sealed with a hiss. There was a door on the far side of the hallway, and Liara explained to the other two that this was one of several air-locks in the base.

Remaining silent both of them waited for the door to open, which would sometimes take as long as three and a half minutes.

"Liara, how far away from the Data-core are we?" Shepard asked.

"Not far, we should get there fairly quickly once we have dealt with the guards."

As if on cue the door slid open, and the assault troopers inside were quick to attack them. Kneeling on the ground she put up a barrier in the shape of a bubble, it allowed her to shield herself and her friends, while they were free to return fire, tearing the opposition up. She released the barrier with a sigh as they rolled into the room.

Ashley traded fire with one of the armored Centurions while Shepard tackled one of the soldiers to the ground; using the man's own weapon to kill him. Standing up he barely dodged a flurry of shots from another trooper.

Having recovered Liara rushed up to another of the riot shield soldiers, he was focused on Ashley who was peppering him with rounds, which harmlessly off of his adjusted her barrier to affect only her hand, and punched him in the back; the man flew up to the ceiling and smashed into it, after which he fell back to the ground at an awkward angle. His head hit the ground and the snapping sound that his neck made was audible. The last trooper tried to flee, only to be met with a shot to the chest from Ashley's rifle.

"This way" Liara told the others, already walking towards the door. Inside was the main data core. One of the many Prothean devices found on Mars was located here, and she quickly walked to the computer, with Shepard and Ashley trailing behind her. She reached it and tried to access the data.

"John, you're really making a habit out of interfering with my plans aren't you?" a cold voice suddenly said. Whirling around, Liara aimed her pistol.

The illusive man smiled.


	4. The Illusive Man

**Chapter 3**

** Illusive Man**

Ashley lowered her rifle. "It's just a damn hologram" she snarled. The Illusive man continued on, ignoring her.

"John, I thought that I had made it clear that you weren't to make a nuisance of yourself the last time that we talked." His calm tone belied the disdain in his eyes.

Shepard didn't take the bait. "I thought you were as human centric as always the last time we spoke, why would you attack this base?" he asked.

The Illusive man took a long draft from his cigarette, walking back in forth. The hologram was one of the best that Ashley had ever seen; those inhuman eyes seemed to pierce her right down to her soul.

"Just like always, you miss the big picture John." The man replied. "You've demonstrated your lack of that particular skill when you destroyed the Collector base; I'm just trying to pick up the pieces."

"Pick up the pieces?" Shepard asked incredulously. "Earth is under siege, the Reapers are everything we feared. " He met the illusive man's eyes calmly. "We have to work together to defeat them, fighting each other is just going to make their job easier." Shepard finished.

"You just want to destroy the Reapers; I however have humanities best interests in mind." The Illusive man shot back. "This data is the key to controlling them, to making Humanity stand in its rightful place as the dominant race in the galaxy."

"You want to save those things?" Shepard shook his head. "I knew you were crazy, but now I think that you're just plain insane."

The Illusive man sighed "I don't know why I bother to explain my actions. You've already proven that you aren't willing to do what must be done to promote your own race." He gazed at Liara who scowled back. "You'd rather co-mingle with aliens and weaken humanity." He turned his gaze towards Ashley, who shrank back reflexively. "Fortunately, I have other agents who are more than willing to get the job done."

"Like your men here? And Dr. Core?" Ashley couldn't help but ask.

The Illusive Man didn't take his eyes off of Shepard. "Among others, though she is highly effective in her line of work" he replied.

Suddenly Liara gasped "The data, it's being erased!" she yelped.

"What?" Shepard said whirling around.

"It's a local tap; someone is in here with us." Looking around she pointed towards the other side of the room. "There!"

"Goodbye John" The Illusive man said, his hologram winking out of existence.

The Illusive man took another drag from his cigarette before he put it into the ashtray on his right. He heard footsteps behind him, and he knew before he looked that it would be Leng.

"She won't be able to get away from Shepard. We both know that" Leng said, his voice, usually tinted with superiority, now was with one of respect.

"Of course, the data she managed to send to us is enough for us to forward our plans Leng." The Illusive man replied.

Leng persisted "Shepard is a threat, do you want me to take care of him?" he put a fist into his free hand.

Lighting up another cigarette the illusive man examined the assassin with a critical eye. The man hadn't been born on Earth, but he had clear traces of Oriental origins, mixed with Eastern European, Russian, to be specific. He had dark eyes, but the optic implants that he wore now masked that detail.

He had a long blade sheathed at his side, and a custom black Carnifex hand cannon in a holster on his chest. He walked back and forth impatiently, gliding over the floor as if he were not touching it at all. It was amazing that they had been able to repair all of the damage that Anderson and Grayson had inflicted upon him

_Yet another thing that Shepard refuses to embrace. Reaper technology is capable of restoring even the most grievously wounded soldier to perfect fighting condition. _The Illusive man thought.

"No. No we're going to let Shepard fight his war, he doesn't matter in the long run, not anymore" The Illusive man said finally.

"But-"Leng began

"I've made my decision Leng.

Leng didn't like that, not one bit. His fist tightened visibly and his face contorted slightly. "Yes sir." The man spat. The Illusive man dismissed him with a wave of his fingers, and Leng turned around and stormed out of the room.

The Illusive man turned his chair back around and examined the reports that his operatives were sending in. The Reapers were pouring out of Hegemony space, with smaller groups attacking from the Attican Traverse and the Terminus systems.

More were already being reported on the edges of Asari and Salarian space, and messages were coming in of a large scale invasion of Palaven.

_Humanity may have lost its homeworld, but it will be the one who defeats the Reapers_. _And using their sheer might, we will ascend to our rightful place in this galaxy, and lead it to a new golden age._

The Illusive man smiled at the thought.

(**)

"There!"

Ashley looked to see Core look up at them before turning around and bolting for the door.

"Come on, we can't let her get away with that data!" Shepard ordered. They charged after her, but they couldn't catch up, the woman was like lightning. The woman bolted to the tram and simply shot the glass out, she jumped through the hole that she had made and continued running.

Buckling on her helmet Ashley heard Shepard order Vega to stop the woman. "Commander, I can see one of their shuttles flying near your position, that storm is wreaking havoc on our systems, but I'm going to try to stop them."

Ashley was about to ask what he had in mind but was interrupted by Core shooting at them from a higher vantage point. Shepard flew up the ladder that separated them and the women were quick to follow.

She heard Core yell for someone to stop them, and she saw a final squad of Cerberus men jump out at them, this time with a blue armored man. He wore a rebreather like Liara's. He had vivid green eyes that seemed to radiate fury as he fired his rifle at her, snarling like an animal. _He's a traitor._ Ashley thought, enraged.

Ashley rolled into cover behind a pipe, and waited for a clear shot. It was three on three; not a real challenge, but it was delaying them. She burst up from her spot and shot one man dead between the eyes before kneecapping the traitor. He screamed and fell to the ground.

The last soldier turned to her, and she felt a burst be absorbed by her shields. It wasn't enough to harm her, but it still hurt, her joints protested as she moved forwards. Before her assailant could get another shot off Shepard pounced on him; extending his omni-blade he jammed it deep into the man's neck. Blood squirted out like a hose, and the man's struggling slowed before he simply stopped moving.

Liara walked up to the injured survivor and looked at him "Daniel? You helped Cerberus?"

"Heh, you didn't think that Core could do it all by her lonesome did you Asari?" he spat. His voice was tinged with madness. "I'm not like your precious boyfriend or brunhilda back there you filthy animal." Ashley bristled and the man continued. "Oh I was glad to do it, I'm only sorry I couldn't kill you myself bitch, but Morson had to go and seal my team outside before he died, he always did piss me off" he said, venom dripping from his every word.

Liara, whose expression had rapidly changed from shock to one of horror gasped and took a few steps back, nearly walking into Ashley.

Shepard walked up to the broken man and spoke to him "I'm not a fan of traitors on a good day, but you've killed dozens of men and women that you'd sworn to defend. You've threatened the lives of me and my crew, and you've insulted my girlfriend." Shepard stopped a few feet before reaching him. "In short you've made me a very angry man." He picked the man up by his broken leg, ignoring his yelps of pain and walked over to a wall. "You deserve a lot worse than this." He threw Daniel screaming off of the building and turned back to the women.

"Awww Skipper, I love you too." Ashley said with a chuckle.

"Glad we could kiss and make up Ash." Shepard replied. Liara didn't say anything for a moment but she then nodded and said "let's go get Core."

(**)

Core hadn't made it too far ahead of them; apparently EDI had managed to remotely hack into the base's systems and had used them to delay her advance.

Despite EDI's involvement, she had made it to safety, with the squad hot on her heals.

They finally reached the roof of one of the side buildings, only to see her jumping into a Cerberus shuttle. The shuttle did not escape however, as suddenly another shuttle crashed into it, sending it into a dive. The shuttle crashed with a fantastic explosion and she heard Vega cheering over the comm.

"Damn it" Shepard muttered. He lowered his rifle and Ashley did the same. He waved her forward "Ash, check out that heap and see if you can recover any of the data."

Ashley did as he asked, but the shuttle was simply a mess. The back half of it was burning profusely while the front half was mostly crushed into the roof. As she drew closer she thought she saw movement, raising her rifle she walked forwards suspiciously. A sudden moan of metal being twisted made her freeze

Core, fully alive and barely human looking walked out of the wreck. Her skin had the appearance of black ash, and looking through an optical device of some kind, she met Ashley's eyes.

Shocked, Ashley didn't even get a shot off as the woman charged forth with astounding speed and grabbed her head. Using one arm, Core slammed her face into the wall repeatedly. Despite her armor, Ashley felt every last thundering blow. She felt her nose shatter and blood spew all over her face. All she could see was red, but she faintly heard Shepard call out her name.

She felt the sensation of flight as Core threw her, and felt something in her back snap when she landed. The pain was overwhelming, she couldn't breathe…

Ashley blacked out.

(**)

Shepard saw his friend brutalized and he fired his weapon when Core turned her cold gaze toward him. Time seemed to slow as it charged at him, he squeezed the trigger once…twice….three times, each burst ripping more and more of its "skin" off.

Right as it reached the point where it could reach out and touch him, he fired one last shot. It struck the robotic woman, and it was thrown back. It landed on the ground and shuddered once before going still, its eyes losing their yellow glow.

He whirled around and saw Ashley, still sprawled on the ground. "Vega, Williams is hurt bad, land that shuttle now!" he ordered.

"On the way" Vega replied.

Shepard rushed over to Ashley's prone form, Liara right behind him. He picked her up; she was limp in his grip. He helmet's readout said that she was still alive, but was in dire straits.

The shuttle landed in a clear spot nearby and they boarded it, taking care so as to not further injure their comrade. They lifted off and left the base behind, as soon as they broke atmosphere the _Normandy_ picked them up and made all expedience towards the relay.

Shepard laid Ashley gently on a nearby cargo container. _We had to evacuate so quickly that we didn't even have time to pick up all of the staff; we don't even have medical personnel on board._ He lifted Ashley's helmet off, and looked her over. He face looked as though it had been beaten with a steel girder, and her breathing was coming in ragged gasps.

Liara looked at him and grasped his hand. She said something but he didn't catch what. _This is my fault, if I had taken point I could have prevented this. _

"Shepard….John, please listen" Liara's voice made him jump. "Ashley needs to go to the Citadel; it's the only place with the tech to help her"

"You're right." Shepard replied. Tapping into the comm. he paged Joker. "Joker, get us to the Citadel ASAP."

"On it Commander." The pilot replied.

Leaning over his fallen friend's body he almost missed EDI say that Admiral Hackett wanted to speak to him over the Vidcom."

"Vidcom?" he asked uncertainly.

"In the area behind where Doctor Solus used to work there is a fully functional communication device capable of light speed communication, similar in function to the holographic display that the Illusive Man used to communicate to you during our campaign against the Collectors." EDI said smoothly.

"Thanks EDI"

Shepard tore himself away from the med bay and made his way to the lab.

The lab Mordin had worked in was gone completely. The equipment and plating had been ripped out, and had been replaced with a small war room. The table from the old one had been moved here, and the word "Normandy" had been painted on one of the see through walls separating the war room from the main hallway.

Continuing Shepard went through the door at the end of the hall and was greeted by the sight of dozens of computer terminals arranged in a circular fashion around a larger main terminal in the center of the room.

There were a few technicians working fervently on several of the terminals, they stopped and saluted him.

Shepard returned the gesture and the techs went back to work.

"In this area is kept any relevant data about the current progress of the Reaper war, Shepard. You may access it at any time from this terminal."

Shepard walked up to the main terminal, noticing yet another rear door.

_That must be where the vidcom is_ he guessed.

Walking briskly through the opened doors he was met by the static-filled silhouette of who assumed was Admiral Hackett.

"C-aaa-nnnn…ear me?" Shepard could barely make his voice out through the static

"Ccccooom-aan-an-ddeer!"

Shepard glanced up. "EDI can you clean this up any?"

"I will do so to the best of my abilities Shepard." The AI replied.

"Commander, it's good to see you in one piece." Hackett said finally.

"We managed to escape Mars just as the Reapers attacked it sir." Shepard replied.

"Did you get the data?" Hackett asked.

"Most of it, Cerberus had overrun the facility by the time we arrived, they attempted to stop us from downloading it. Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams was critically wounded as we chased down one of their operatives."

"I'm sorry to hear that Commander, but what was Cerberus doing there in the first place?" his superior asked.

"They were after the data, but from the best I could tell they don't want it for the same reasons that we do." He answered.

"And what is the data for exactly?"

"It's a blueprint for a Prothean superweapon, one that could defeat the Reapers" Liara said, walking up to stand next to him.

"A superweapon?" Hackett said in disbelief

"Yes, the Protheans hid at the Mars facility when the Reapers finally overran their last defenses, from what I can tell they were confident that it would work."

"Send me the data, if it has a chance of defeating the Reapers then I want everyone we have working on it."

"Sir, we're on our way to the Citadel now, more than likely I'll talk to the council while we're there."

"Tell them about the data Shepard; get them on board however you can."

"And if they don't believe in the weapon's functionality?" he asked

"Then get me weapons, ships, men, anything that you can. We'll need everything that we can get if we want to stop the Reapers." Hackett said firmly.

"I understand sir, I'll do my best"

"Good, under my authority as acting Commander of Alliance military forces I give you the rights and privileges of any Ambassador, use them as you see fit Commander. Hackett out" the link closed abruptly.

Shepard stared at nothing in particular; Liara walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Shepard…"

"Yeah?" he muttered.

"You don't think it will work do you?" she asked him.

"I just saw Reapers blow right through my race's best defenses, and considering how well the Protheans did with it doesn't give me much more confidence in it." He snapped.

Liara stepped back from him surprised at his outburst.

He took a deep breath; he had to keep his composure. "Look, it's not that I don't think it will work, it's that to build something like this…It would take the combined efforts of the entire galaxy. You know as well as I do that they can't even agree to give each other the time of day half the time."

"Shepard, you know we can't beat them conventionally. Besides if anyone can convince the races of the galaxy to work with one another it's you" she said with a nod.

He didn't respond for a moment, he dropped his gaze from hers.

"Shepard…isn't it worth trying at least?" she said weakly, rubbing her hands together.

"I'm going to go check on Ash" he said abruptly. He walked away from Liara and headed to the med bay.

"Approaching the Mass Relay" Joker's voice came over the intercom.

(**)

The _Normandy_ raced to the Relay, passing the remains of human vessels and space-stations. And while their stealth system, newly upgraded, was sufficient enough to mask their presence from the enemy, the rest of those who tried to escape were met all with the same fate.

The Reapers were true to their name, not another vessel managed to make it past them for the relay.


	5. Palaven

**Chapter 4**

** Palaven **

The great metallic behemoth touched town just outside of the city, which was already burning from the efforts of the Reapers' kin. It walked forward on its gigantic legs, which despite their size and shape provided them with excellent stability.

Throngs of people fled from its wake, and from the troops that it had deployed. The Reaper ignored them, they were unimportant at the moment. Instead it just kept moving towards the city, narrowing the gap between its landing site and the outer limits rapidly.

It was about a thousand yards away from the city when it took aim and fired its laser. It cut through the metal and concrete of the buildings like a knife did through butter, and more fires grew, their delighted consumption of the debris making them almost seem alive.

People screamed and fled as it continued its attack, only to be torn apart by the zombie-like Reaper ground troops. The overwhelmed military attempted desperately to hold a city that had been lost the second the first Reaper had landed.

_Shepard said it would be like this, but I guess I never expected them to land on Palaven so quickly. Or for the great Turian armed forces to be defeated at such a scale _Garrus Vakarian thought to himself. Grunting he tapped the screen and the image flickered off. He wasn't on Palaven; he was actually on Menae, which was serving as a temporary headquarters for the Turian fleet. Glancing out a nearby window Garrus saw a small cluster of ships engage a _Sovereign_-class Reaper.

The ships were no match for the larger Reaper, not a single one managed to escape the skirmish. He sighed and picked up his Mantis, examining it he set about taking it apart and cleaning it. The weapon didn't need it, but the action was a sort of personal ritual.

It had all started yesterday, when contact had been lost with Earth. The hierarchy hadn't been too worried, despite him warning them about the threat. That had all changed when human ships had managed to contact the greater galaxy with the news of the invasion and subsequent occupation of the Sol system.

As if a switch had been thrown, dozens of Reapers had come through the Relay. They had smashed into the Turian's defenses and had landed on Palaven in force within eighteen standard minutes of their arrival.

Eighteen minutes. It had taken them eighteen minutes for them to land in force, blowing through Palaven's supposedly undefeatable defenses. The thought of it still hadn't connected yet. Most of the home guard fleet had pulled back to Menae while the army stayed behind and tried to hold the planet. So far the casualties had been staggering, but they had had moderate success against the Reaper ground forces, which were more of an even match against the Turians.

He stood up and walked towards the table which was dead center of the small quarters that had been allotted to him. They were officer's quarters, so they were far better than the standard bunks given to enlisted men, and seeing how he wasn't technically in the Turian military a large measure of respect, but having grown used to the large rooms aboard the Normandy, Garrus felt cramped in the small space he occupied.

He shook his head. _Spoiled by humans, bet Dad would love this_ he thought. It had been weeks since he had last talked to his father; Garrus had finally walked up to the man and told him everything that he knew about the Reapers, the Collectors, the Protheans, everything. The older man had leaned back and thought for a long time, and surprised his son by saying that he believed every word. Being a personal friend of the Primarch had its benefits, and Garrus had quickly found himself appointed the head of a small unit dedicated to preparing for the Reapers.

It was a token measure of course, but he had been working with Shepard for years, so he knew how to make do with next to nothing. He had managed to work in some new supply lines with the humans, and convinced a general or two to stockpile weapons.

Still, even with his knowledge of the Reapers, he had been as surprised as anyone else when an armada suddenly knocked on the front door.

An ensign knocked on the door and waited for Garrus to nod before he walked in. The man shot a crisp salute and handed him a datapad. "Reports from Palaven sir"

Taking the proffered device, Garrus gave it a quick glance. The ensign walked briskly out of the room as he started to read. Most of the fleet had managed to escape Palaven intact, and a general order had been given out to report to Menae, in preparation for a counter-assault.

Those orders had been amended; now they wanted everyone to attack incoming Reapers, but to not attempt to retake lost ground on Palaven. "By order of Primarch Fedorian, the situation on Palaven has reached the point where the brunt of space-faring vessels will be unable to assist ground forces without taking immense casualties." He read aloud.

Continuing Garrus started to pace back and forth. "Troop shuttles and evacuation ships are authorized to continue transport procedures, but all mainline warships are ordered to stay clear of the space within five-hundred and fifty thousand kilometers of Palaven space."

The orders were from early this morning. Looking back at the window, he saw the same Reaper from earlier. It had landed and was using its laser with brutal efficiency. Patching into the comm, he heard the terrified transmissions coming from the area that the Reaper was attacking.

The men were abruptly cut off and the voice of General Victus took over. "Vakarian! I need you at the airfield."

"On my way General" Garrus replied, somewhat annoyed that the man had overridden his comm unit. Clicking his mandibles he picked up his rifle. _Well, at least they won't be shoving Propaganda down our throats like the Collectors did._

(**)

"We've got an inbound patient, Alliance military, priority code Alpha one one" the Turian EMT barked into his comm. EDI had radioed ahead to Citadel control, and there had been a medical team waiting for them as soon as they had docked in Zakera ward. Shepard walked anxiously behind the squad of medics as they raced to an awaiting med-evac transport. "Where are you taking her?" he asked the Turian who had made the call.

"Huerta memorial hospital, best place on the Citadel for Asari and human treatment." The man replied. "Don't worry Commander; she'll be in good hands. Your friend will come out just fine."

The Turian paused for a moment as if he were about to say something else, shaking his head he turned around and rushed back to his compatriots. Shepard stopped and watched them leave; he nearly missed the familiar figure approaching him.

"Ah, Commander Shepard, it's good to see you again." Captain Bailey strode up to him. "I'm sorry about your friend"

"Captain Bailey, always a pleasure." Shepard looked him over. "You look different" he stated, his eyes settling on the man's hair, which was now a dark brown instead of gray.

"Yeah well, someone finally convinced me to dye it…And it's commander now." The man's tone clearly indicated he wasn't too thrilled about the change in rank.

"Congratulations?" Shepard asked uncertainly.

"Yeah…after that mess a few months back with all the corruption in C-sec they moved a lot of people higher in the ranks, and now I'm a commander." Bailey seemed to pause after every couple words, as if he didn't quite believe what had happened.

"I would think that being promoted would be a good thing..." Shepard trailed off.

"It's a higher pay grade for sure, but most of my job now consists of symbolic bullshit, which is part of the reason I'm here to greet you I'm afraid." Bailey took out a datapad and began to read aloud.

"The council recognizes the importance of the information you have and it humbly requests your presence in the presidium blah blah blah." He dismissed the words with a wave of his hand.

"Look just head on up to the presidium when you get a chance, the council wants to get your opinion before they completely lose control of their stomachs" Bailey said in a dry tone

"Thanks Bailey" Shepard replied

"Anytime Shepard" Bailey said, nodding. "Oh and there might be some time for you to check on your friend to if you want."

"I can give my reports to the council Shepard, you can visit Ashley." Liara piped from behind him. Shepard hadn't even heard her approach.

"I'll go visit Ash first then."

Bailey's radio suddenly chirped. "Sir that reporter is here again, she's threatening to sleep at our front door until she gets an interview." The voice sounded weary.

"Damn it" Bailey cursed. "the other half of my job."

"If you'll excuse me" Bailey walked towards a nearby elevator.

Shepard turned back towards Liara.

"I won't be too long" He said weakly.

" Don't worry Shepard, I can handle this." Liara answered, the hint of a smile on her lips.

He nodded to her and walked over to hail a cab over, he didn't have to wait too long, one of the automated Citadel taxis flew up to and landed on the platform, its door opening to accept him.

"Welcome to Citadel taxi services Commander Shepard, please input your destination" came a smooth automated voice.

A tad bit unsettled Shepard looked around the cab, it was nice, neat.

His eyes finally settled on a small screen near the dashboard "Take me to Huerta Memorial" he told the screen

The voice purred "right away Commander"

The cab took off; it flew out of the hangar bay and squeezed effortlessly into the massive flow of traffic. Despite the speed of his vehicle, it was still a good forty-five minutes before he even reached the vicinity of his destination, which was just shy of the Council tower. His eyes drifted out the window as the cab soared over the Presidium They had done a remarkably good job repairing most of the damage Sovereign and the Geth had inflicted upon the station.

_It's funny. _He thought _Its been over three years since the battle of the Citadel, yet this place never really shook off being attacked, Having its bubble burst so violently. _

The cab started to decelerate, and came in for a landing near what Shepard assumed was the hospital.

He sighed "hope the council can come up with something this time"

The hospital was busy, but it wasn't packed, not yet at least. Orders were being broadcasted over the intercom, and there were nurses and doctors rushing about, not so quickly as to look stressed, but fast enough to warrant non-communication.

He walked up to the main desk; the Asari behind the counter gave a small start when she saw him.

"Commander Shepard?" the woman asked, putting her hand to her mouth in shock.

Inwardly, Shepard rolled his eyes, people always seemed to recognize him on sight nowadays, and her reaction was typical. Still, she hadn't immediately offered to name one of her children after him, or ripped off her clothes. That was a good sign.

"Yes, I'm Commander Shepard, and I'm here to see a patient, Lt. Commander Ashley Williams, Alliance navy. Should have been brought here a while ago…" Shepard trailed off, the entire time he spoke he noticed the woman desperately trying to keep her eyes level with his. She kept glancing downwards. It took him a minute to tell what she was doing.

_Oh_ he thought, _oh… well…wow._ He looked off to one side and scratched the back of his neck.

The Asari shook her head and glanced at her companion, a human woman, who typed on her keyboard. The woman mumbled something inaudibly.

"What was that?" he asked awkwardly.

"Sorry" she answered. "We've had so many casualties come in already, it's a little hard to keep track." The woman had an Earth-born accent; it sounded almost like Miranda's to Shepard.

"Lieutenant Commander Williams went out of surgery twenty minutes ago, we have her sedated, but you can visit her if you'd like." The woman reported.

"Thank you"

The woman pointed Ashley's room and he walked off. Right as he walked into the in-patient wind he looked over his shoulder at the receptionists. Both women were giggling madly, and the Asari made a gesture that he had seen Grunt use to describe the size of a fish he had wanted.

Shepard felt a tad amount of pride at that gesture.

(**)

Walking towards the room that the receptionists had pointed out, he suddenly heard a familiar voice off to one side. Turning he saw Dr. Chakwas talking to another Doctor.

Walking over to them he recognized the Doctor to whom she was speaking as Doctor Chloe Michel. _I guess she moved up since I helped her out in the wards. _Shepard thought.

"Commander!" Doctor Chakwas said exuberantly "I'm glad to see you in one piece and in an Alliance uniform"

"Good to see you too Doc," he said with a grin. "And you too Doctor Michel."

Both of the women returned his smile but a sudden call for Michel left the two Alliance officers alone.

"How's life been since we left Cerberus?" Shepard asked

"Well technically I was on leave when I was with you on the _Normandy_, the Alliance brass had nothing to charge me with, not that they wanted to" she answered with a conspiratorial smile.

"So you've been busy here?" Shepard inquired.

"A bit, but it's like I always told you Shepard, I just don't have it in me to be grounded, I have to be on a military vessel." She replied.

"Your place is on the _Normandy _Doctor" Shepard said nodding.

"I almost didn't want to ask, do you mean it?" she asked with the excitement of a child getting a new toy.

"Of course I do Doctor, pack your bags and grab your gear"

"Yes Commander" she said happily.

She burst off and Doctor Michel walked back over to him.

"Shepard it's so good to see you again" she said brightly.

"Looks like you've been doing well for yourself, I guess you left that little clinic in the wards behind a long time ago" he replied.

"Oh yes, after all that trouble with Fist was settled up I found myself with more patients than I could treat. I made due, but I jumped at the chance when I was offered a residency here." she said proudly.

"Seeing any casualties from the Reapers yet?" he asked

"A few, we have some more coming in from Palaven soon, but so far it seems like the Reapers don't leave many wounded." She said sadly.

"I can imagine" he said. "I'm actually here to visit one of my squad, she got hurt pretty badly when we fled from Sol."

"Ashley Williams yes?" she asked. "I remember her being with you when you killed those mercenaries at the Clinic."

"Yeah, do you know if she's doing any better?" Shepard inquired.

Michel put a hand on her chin "She suffered bad head trauma but we were able to reduce the swelling with surgical decompression. Her lungs luckily didn't take too much damage; we were able to get the fluid out fairly easily."

"I'm glad, she looked pretty bad when we brought her here."

"Happy to help Shepard, don't let me keep you now" she leaned over and gave him a peck on his cheek.

"Oh and tell Garrus I said "hi" will you?"

(**)

He found Ashley's room after a few moments. He paused right outside. Taking a deep breath Shepard walked into her room.

She was asleep, her breathing sounded ragged and forced. Her face looked like someone had taken a bat to it. He walked lightly, and sat in a chair next to the bed.

"Hey Ash" he said softly. "I'm sorry that this happened, I shouldn't have let it happen."

He leant forward in his chair, clasping his hands, and settling them in his lap. "I'm sorry about Cerberus, about what they've done, what they've become…what I let them do when I was working with them."

He just sat there for a few minutes, looking at her and thinking about when she had trusted him completely. _I'm the same person that I was then, could she really not see that?"_

An orderly's knock jolted him out of his stupor. "Sir, if you'd like to get yourself some coffee or something…" the man trailed off.

Shepard took the hint. "No, that's okay; I've got somewhere to be anyway". He stood up and walked over to the door, pausing he looked back at the bed.

"Make sure she's well taken care of, Spectre's orders." He told the orderly.

The man nodded "Don't worry sir, she'll be under the best of care, I promise."

"Thank you" Shepard said gratefully. "She's an old friend"

(**)

"I don't understand what you're telling us Doctor." Talna said to the other Asari.

"And I don't understand just what's so confusing about what I am saying Councilor" T'soni replied hotly.

Udina watched the exchange, hiding the anxiety he felt with the ease of someone who had spent decades in politics.

Doctor T'soni had walked in here with information that had only clarified that the horrendous attack on the Sol system was worse than what had been originally projected. They had expected that Shepard, now re-instated as she told them, would be with her but he had apparently stopped at Huerta Memorial to check on the progress of Lt. Commander Williams

_She had better be alright; I have plans for that woman. _Udina thought, his eyes narrowing reflexively.

"The thing that I am having trouble understanding is that, if the humans had this information for so long why wouldn't they have shared it with the rest of us? Why weren't we allowed to look at the Mars archives?" the Salarian Councilor accused.

"The archives are a massive database; it contains billions of encrypted strands of data programmed by some of the best minds of a race that was far ahead of us on every scale." Udina shot back "the fact that we managed to translate it at all is a miracle in itself."

Continuing "And besides, they were discovered by the human race in its home system, I am certain that it is within our rights to withhold a find like this."

"Before the attack yes but Councilor-" Talna began

"I am not trying to withhold anything!" T'soni snapped. "In fact, if you could all just stop snapping at one another I can give you the Damned data now!"

Outraged the Salarian councilor began to issue a rebuke. "This is the Council of the Citadel and you would do well to address us properly!"

"Enough!" Tavorn roared. "Councilor all that you have done is switch between accusing either Udina or the Doctor." He told the Salarian.

"But-"the man stuttered.

"Please, Doctor," Tavorn said, ignoring the Salarian Councilor's angry glare. "Tell us exactly what you have."

"What she has could make the difference in this war Councilor." A new voice intoned from behind T'soni.

Udina recognized the voice of Shepard, the man had been a stubborn fool in the past, but Udina was relieved to have him here just the same, he was highly resistant to political browbeating. Udina still had the scars from when he had last attempted to do so.

Shepard walked up to the T'soni, who had finally thrown up her hands in frustration. Shepard put a hand on her shoulder and looked up at the council.

"All of you know by now that Earth has been attacked by the Reapers." Shepard told them.

Maybe it was just his paranoia striking, but Udina felt that somewhere deep down, Shepard had enjoyed relaying that information.

Talna broke the silence "We know Commander, even now Reaper forces are pressing down upon our borders." The Asari's voice was calm and commanding; usually it was enough to stifle most people.

The effect was lost on Shepard, "Then you know exactly what we're dealing with, you know that none of our races can stand against the Reapers by themselves." He replied, meeting her gaze.

Udina jumped on the spring board Shepard had given him. "Shepard is right" He said to the others, slamming his fist into his open hand for emphasis. "We must combat this invasion together."

"So we should just blindly follow humanity?" the Salarian Councilor said incredulously.

"I don't expect you to follow me without a plan Councilor." Shepard said confidently. "But we have something in our possession that just might be the answer that we need"

T'soni walked forward and taped a few buttons on her Omni-tool. The weapon schematics burst into display.

"These are schematics for a Prothean superweapon, one that I believe can defeat the Reapers." She explained.

"Did the Protheans manage to complete this weapon Doctor?" Tavorn asked

"No I'm afraid, they ran out of time right as they were nearing completion. They were missing some crucial element, something referred to only as; the Catalyst." She answered.

"If the Protheans were unable to finish this weapon, what makes you think that we can?" The Salarian Councilor asked, the tone of his voice having reached a more level one.

Udina looked down at Shepard again, the man looked exhausted, but he seemed to just shrug it off as always.

"We have more time than the Protheans did, more warning." He replied

"Shepard, do you really think that it will work?" Tavorn asked

Shepard didn't answer at first; he looked down at his shoes for a moment. He took a deep breath and looked back up, meeting all of their gazes.

"Liara believes it will, and I believe it will." His face was of iron determination. "If we can work together we can win the war."

"Yes, if we work together we can accomplish this task, but please, we must take back Earth, it is everything to my race" Udina pleaded.

"The device is one thing, but now you want us to blindly follow you to Earth?" The Salarian councilor snapped.

Talna held up her hand for silence. "The cruel and unfortunate truth is that while the Reapers focus on Earth it gives the rest of the galaxy time to prepare, whether that be for a counter-assault or through this device waits to be seen." She said, ending the debate.

Inside Udina was seething. _Arcturus destroyed, Earth under siege, and they refuse to help?_

Outwardly he showed no such emotion. "Shepard, meet me in my office" he commanded.

The other man met his gaze and nodded once. Udina walked with the other Councilors back to the rear chamber, he said the expected good-byes and walked quickly to his office.

Somehow Shepard had managed to arrive here before him; even with the quick access halls the Councilors were allotted. Udina wasn't surprised.

"They're a bunch of self-concerned jackassess Shepard" he spat, finally letting his frustration come through.

"You couldn't have honestly expected them to go waltzing over to Earth did you?" Shepard responded.

"If it were Thessia or Sur'kesh they damn well would have!" Udina retorted, slamming his fist on the table.

"Even if the Council were willing to send its fleets to Earth, we all know that they would have a small success against the Reapers." a voice said from behind Shepard.

It was Tavorn; the Turian walked up to Shepard and stood with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Shepard, I'm here to offer my assistance, however much that means now" he told the human. "I would offer that of Palaven, but a combination of war-time practice and the invasion of my homeworld have left me little sway in that area" He said apologetically.

"Thank you Councilor, I'll take whatever help we can get" Shepard replied, extending his hand.

Watching the two shake hands Udina seethed, he was a Councilor! And this man was the one who was making all of the important decisions?

"I understand how you both must feel, my own homeworld burns at the touch of the machines just as yours does." Tavorn said, his mandibles clicking against his teeth audibly.

"The Turian fleet is doing the best that it can to hold ground on Palaven, they cannot be spared at the moment, but if the pressure on the planet could be alleviated…" he suggested.

"That's a tall order Councilor, but I will see what I can do" Shepard answered honestly.

Tavorn sighed deeply. "Thank you Commander, if that's one thing you've done is prove me wrong, I would have half expected you to refuse to aid my people"

"Councilor, you and I have never agreed before now, but none of that matters now that hell is knocking on the front door" Shepard said.

"You're right of course" Tavorn replied. "If you do go to Palaven, please find Primarch Fedorian, he's the one that's in charge of the Turian hierarchy." He finished

The Turian started for the door, Udina was just about to say something else to Shepard when he suddenly turned back to the two humans.

"And by the way…" he called. He took out his Omni-tool, which popped up and displayed Shepard's Spectre file.

"The Council has chosen to uphold your Spectre status, giving you the rights and resources of any Spectre operative." Turning again for the door he said one final "good-day" before leaving the office.

Udina sighed. "Shepard you could have been a good politician, that man has never liked a human enough to give him the time of day."

"I prefer to get shot at thank you very much, less stress on the mind" Shepard half-joked.

"Go to Palaven and see what you can do, I'll stay here and see what _I_ can do. I've got to have some friends left, even after all of this." He said, ignoring the joke.

Shepard nodded. "Udina, you and I have never seen eye to eye, just like Tavorn, but I want you to know that it's all behind us now, we've got bigger problems than each other."

"Yes, yes you're right Shepard" Udina replied after a moment. "Thank you"

He sat there in silence for a few minutes after Shepard had left, trying to think of some of his contacts that would be the most helpful.

"Hmm, I wonder if Henry managed to escape." Udina wondered aloud. Acting on an impulse he opened a link to his friend's commlink. He was surprised when the man answered his call.

"Henry? You made it out alright?" he asked uncertainly

The other man laughed "Of course I did, you should know by now that I'm a very difficult man to kill."

"Yes, yes you are" Udina agreed.

"I'm guessing you want my help" Henry stated.

"It looks bad Henry; anything you might have to offer will be appreciated"

"Donnel, I'm a Lawson, I've always got something, and whether or not it will help depends on how the war goes"

"I've got my best man working on it" Udina answered quickly.

"I'm sure you do, but Shepard won't be able to do it all his own, even with his…capabilities."

Udina took the bait. "Just what are you suggesting Henry?"

His friend chuckled "let's just say I made some interesting friends out in the Traverse, and they've got their own plans for our enemy."

(**)

Shepard noticed Commander Bailey's name above the doorway, the room was only a few meters away from Udina's office. He decided to walk in and talk to the soon as he got inside he put his face into his palm when he saw the all too familiar reporter barking at Bailey.

"I demand answers! The people demand answers!" Kalisa snapped.

"You don't get to demand anything from the Council ma'am." Bailey said through gritted teeth. "If they won't see any reporters then they certainly won't see you".

"Fine, then I'll just camp outside their door until they see me!" she countered.

Bailey chuckled "I hope you brought a blanket then, now, get out of my office" he dismissed her with a scowl.

Making a huff she walked right past Shepard, only to whirl around right as she got outside the door.

"Commander! Commander Shepard the people have questions!" she began only to be cut-off as Bailey's door slammed shut.

"I appreciate that Bailey" Shepard said thankfully.

"Anytime Shepard, that damn reporter has been making a nuisance of herself since your trial never got broadcast the other day." Bailey said angrily.

"There's a war on and she's upset because the Council won't see her, won't listen to her questions about you."

"Well I can't blame them for not wanting to hear about me, I certainly got fed up hearing about them back in the old days" Shepard said with a grin, thinking back to one day when he had hung up on the Council. It had been just after Feros, and Tavorn had pressed all the right buttons.

"Still you think they would have time to take an interview from any reporter" he offered.

Bailey grunted "They need to get off their asses and say something, because at the moment they won't even give an official response on the war. Earth and Palaven burning, and their lips are sealed."

He fell silent and looked up at Shepard. "I heard you were on Earth when it got hit, how bad was it?"

"I'm not going to lie to you Bailey, it was a disaster. The Reapers smashed right through us, all I could hear at one point were explosions and the sounds of people's screams." Shepard felt terrible saying those words.

"Damn" Bailey said with another grunt. "I've been meaning to get back there one of these days, now it looks like I won't get that chance."

"Yeah, I know how you feel Bailey." Shepard looked around his office, there was a small photo off to one side, the picture was of Bailey along with two people he assumed were his children.

"Shepard, if these aren't the end of times, then I don't know what they are" Bailey said in a hollow voice.

"We'll figure something out Bailey, you'll see Earth again."

"Oh I'm sure I'll see it again, but I'm not sure if it will be in one piece when I do." Bailey said sarcastically. "Anyway is there anything else that I can do for you?"

Shepard made his goodbyes, leaving the office he was nearly bowled over by Kalisa.

"Commander Shepard, Kalisa Bint-Sinan Al-Jilani, Westerlund news, I have questions that demand answers!" the reporter said furiously.

Shepard said nothing, and only examined the woman, she looked a wreck, her normally flawless skin was drawn and ragged looking, she had a lot of worry on her shoulders.

"Reports say that you were on the Surface of Earth when it was attacked, what gives you the right to be here on the Citadel while millions die back home…"

Shepard reached over and grasped her shoulder. "Kalisa, you had someone there didn't you?" he asked.

Kalisa looked down at her feet. "My family…my boyfriend…" she murmured.

"There was nothing I could do for them, not on Earth, but out here…" Shepard gestured with his hands. "Out here we can make a difference"

She looked back up, desperation etched on her face.

"Kalisa I'm going to do what I can to help those people, but I need you to ask the tough questions on the Citadel. Spread the message of the war, get the Council to answer what they still refuse to admit" he said firmly.

She nodded, determination flowing through her. "I can do that Commander, and Shepard, it's good to have you out there. Even if we can't help the people on Earth now, I know that you'll find some way to fix things"

The Reporter walked away confidently, leaving him alone. He looked out of a nearby window, dozens of ships flew by. _This place was so amazing when I first got here; it was like stepping on a higher plane of existence. Now it feels more like a bureaucratic pitfall than a place of wonder _Shepard thought. It wasn't too far away from the spot that he was standing in that he had met Garrus, who would become one of his closest friends. He had been one of the few back then who had believed him about Saren.

"You've got a pretty deep look going on there loco." Vega said, walking up to him.

Shepard nodded. "This place just seems to feel more and more out of touch every time I come here" he said to the other man.

"I know what you mean Commander. Back on Earth it was right in front of you, it was real. Out here…it's more like a bad dream." Vega sounded as if he didn't quite believe it.

"Yeah, I wish it were only a bad dream" Shepard looked around, seeing throngs of people going about their everyday lives, completely oblivious to the ongoing war.

"Be real nice to wake up and find out that I ate some bad beef and imagined all this you know?" Vega murmured.

"Yeah, speaking of imagining things, this is your first trip to the Citadel isn't it?" Shepard asked the younger man.

"Yep, looks exactly like the vids showed it, all clean and shiny. It feels weird, like everyone here is putting on a show for someone. You get the feeling like anything you do to mess up this stream of people they've got going would leave a big ripple" he said in a rush.

Shepard laughed "You should have been here when I first got here a few years back. Ash, Kaiden, and I got into two… maybe three firefights within the first couple of hours."

"You serious?" Vega asked with wide eyes.

Shepard's grin grew wider. "Oh yeah, Udina was pissed too, we managed to shoot up his favorite strip club in the process."

Vega narrowed his eyes in disbelief, Shepard leaned forward on a rail, his smile vanishing. _I wonder how Kaiden would have handled me working with Cerberus._

"Anyway, I'd better get back to the ship, heard we're going to Palaven."

"You heard right, tell the ladies I won't be too long."

"If by ladies you mean an unshackled AI and an Asari biotic specialist, then yes, I'll spread the word" Vega turned towards a rapid transit hub.

"They might not be human but they're definitely ladies Vega" He called after the retreating soldier.

"Whatever you say loco" Vega called back.

Shepard took the long way back to the ship; he was starting to feel exhausted after two days of no sleep, walking around made him wake up a little.

Eventually he made his way back to the dock and was just making it past the massed amounts of chairs that made up the entry area when he heard a woman's voice call his name. Turning he saw a tanned rather shapely woman walk up to him. She wore a white gray dress with a small Alliance pin above her chest.

_Oh great a reporter._

"Commander Shepard, I'm Diana Allers with the Alliance News Network." The woman introduced herself, extending her hand.

Shepard shook the proffered hand "Nice too meet you, but I'm not doing interviews right now"

"I'm not looking for an interview Commander, what I'd really like is something a lot more beneficial to the war effort" she said confidently

Shepard raised an eyebrow "Alright, you have my attention Allers."

"I'm part of s special group in the ANN that wants reporters based on military ships with the idea that we can help garner support by being right there with the troops." She explained

"uh-hunh"

"With your permission I want that ship to be the _Normandy_."

"And why would I want that Allers?" he inquired.

"Because I'm unobtrusive and have experience with military protocol so I won't be another Al-Jilani." The Reporter kept her eyes fixed firmly on his. "And because you're a symbol to both the Alliance and throughout the rest of Citadel space, seeing you out there fighting the Reapers firsthand will be a huge morale booster to those people out there resisting the invasion" she said finally."

"You know about Al-Jilani?" he asked surprised.

"Please Commander, your verbal sparring match with her every often are hot topics in the journalism world, but enough evading my question. Can I be on the _Normandy?_

"Alright, fine. But you follow my orders to the letter, got it?" he asked the woman.

"Got it Commander, how much gear can I bring?"

"One footlocker" Shepard replied.

Allers saluted. "You won't be sorry sir."

She scurried off to where she had been staking the place out, and grabbed a footlocker she had pre-prepared. Grabbing the gear, she rushed ahead of him to the ship.

_How is it that I manage to get such a diverse amount of people on my ship?_ He asked himself.

Shepard shrugged and walked into the airlock; patiently waiting for the ship's pressure to equalize he started humming.

"Shepard, in addition to Doctor Chakwas we have received several more crewman and two squads of marines." EDI's voice buzzed over the intercom. "Also, the original _Normandy's_ chief Engineer Gregory Adams has been transferred to the ship; he has requested to speak with you when you have the opportunity."

"Thanks EDI" Shepard said back to her. The door opened and he walked in. Emerging next to the cockpit he saw Joker swivel around in his chair.

"Hey Commander, Liara patched me in on the meeting, we'll be at Palaven as soon as you give the order." Joker reported. "Boy those council types are really something hunh?" he said sarcastically.

"It went about as expected; at least Udina didn't proclaim the session to be an outrage." Shepard replied.

"There was a reason I wanted Anderson to be Councilor and not Udina" Shepard continued. "The man's as big as a snake as they come."

"Oh yeah, but all three of the others are as big as of snake as he is, each one just reflects it in a different way. But I definitely give the advantage to Talna. Poor Udina just isn't supermodel quality anymore" Joker said with a smirk

"This would imply both that Councilor Talna is attractive to you Jeff, and that at one point Councilor Udina was also attractive to you." EDI said in her deadpan tone.

There was an awkward silence which EDI broke by saying "That was a joke"

Shepard tried valiantly to hold in the laughter, his lungs hurt from the effort.

"Yeah, EDI we have got to work on your sense of humor" Joker said swiveling back around in his seat.

"Was that not the appropriate time to use that particular joke Jeff?" EDI asked

"Yeah it was, but the way you said it sounded like you meant it, not as a joke." The pilot told her.

"Are you implying that I don't know how to tell a joke, or that I don't have emotion?" she asked, Shepard couldn't help but imagine the AI to be offended.

"Um, well I uh…" Joker stammered.

"I'm going grab some shuteye; I'll just leave you two to have some quality time while we fly to Palaven."

"Wait! Don't leave me with her!" Joker yelped

"Course set Shepard." EDI said over Joker. "Now Jeff, you have yet to answer my question."

Leaving Joker to his misery, Shepard walked to his cabin; maybe they had managed to save his fish.


	6. Broken Lines

**Chapter 5**

** Broken Lines**

"General, news from Palaven"

General Corinthus nodded to the junior officer who had brought the message, then ignored him as he proceeded to read.

_Primarch Fedorian's shuttle was shot down en route to Palaven from Menae, all crew KIA. All forces are to follow their last received orders until the next in line is able to take command. Current line of succession (as of 17.8.2184.) is as follows: Field Marshall Golnon, Field Marshall Veksa, General Victus, and General Storn. NOTE: Reaper forces are in heavy concentration above Menae; low percentage of military success on the moon is expected. _

Corinthus felt a heavy weight press down on his chest, and he let out a small sigh. Fedorian had been one of his best friends, and had been one of the better Primarchs in his memory. But he had been stubborn, and he had insisted on flying back to Palaven to help the ground troops.

This was the price of that decision; the Turian Empire was left without its leader, and with the current situation finding the new one would be extremely difficult to say the least.

Looking up from the report he pointed at a nearby officer "You, find out the locations and statuses of Field Marshalls Golnon and Veksa." He ordered.

The man shot him a crisp salute. "Yes sir, right away"

Corinthus looked at another officer standing nearby. "You, what is the last know location of General Victus?"

"Sir, he was on the frontline near the secondary base, I will re-verify this if needed sir." The man answered.

"Do it" he commanded.

The men rushed about, carrying out his orders.

"Anything I can do for you General?" a new voice asked.

Corinthus turned to Vakarian saluting. "Primarch Fedorian was killed by Reaper forces; I'm trying to find out who's in charge sir."

Vakarian shifted uncomfortably "Any luck?"

"I just sent some men to find out sir, we should find out soon enough."

A distant explosion drew the gazes of the two soldiers. On the horizon a Reaper walked, its steps echoing to the base. It fired at an unknown target and continued its march, ignoring a cruiser that was firing full-out at its back.

"I didn't expect to fight a war like this in my lifetime sir." Corinthus said honestly. "Were you?"

"Yes, but I've been in the know about these things for three years now…not that I was trying to hide my knowing of them." Vakarian said with a shrug. "In fact nearly everyone we tried to warn laughed at our faces and called us crazy, except for Cerberus of course."

Vakarian let out a bark of laughter. "A terrorist organization believed us, and they got more done to save this place on a daily basis than the council did since the battle of the Citadel."

Corinthus didn't know how to respond to that. It annoyed him that Vakarian was insulting the council and by proxy the Turians, but the man was telling the truth. The Council had in the main ignored the threat of the Reapers, he himself had laughed off the worries of invasion that had plagued some of the other hierarchy brass.

"At the time it seemed so crazy, no one believed it." He replied finally "We were told it was some crazy delusion that some human conjured up"

"Even after you examined _Sovereign_?" Vakarian accused him his tone suddenly angry. "What about the Collectors? Where they some sort of 'crazy delusion'?"

He reached forward and grabbed Corinthus' shoulder, and gestured with his free hand to the Reaper in the distance.

"General I'm afraid that's very real and it took them punching us in the gut for everyone to finally admit."

Corinthus drew in a breath to defend their actions when one of the men he had sent off earlier walked up to them, apparently not noticing what was going on.

"General, Veksa and Golnon are dead; Victus is alive and is currently fighting off Reaper ground forces at outpost four." The soldier reported.

An explosion nearby shook the walls of the compound. Soldiers rushed to the site, gunfire and screams soon followed.

"I'll see what I can do over there General" Vakarian said, nodding to the battle. He ran off before Corinthus could get a word out.

Corinthus soldier to the bone; accepted the man's actions without complaint, he had more important things to do than deal with a younger man's actions.

(**)

He was walking; there was a gray haze over everything. The walls looked metal and had words on them, but for whatever reason they were undecipherable.

"Shepard…" a voice called, it sounded far away, the voice tugged at him. He felt that he should know who it belonged to.

He paused and looked around, the gray mist was still prevalent everywhere he looked, it was very quiet.

"Shepard…leave me…go…"

"I'm sorry." Shepard replied to the voice, he felt a crushing sadness that he couldn't put a reason to.

The walls gave way to a forest, the trees were dead, and they spread in every direction, vanishing eventually into the mist.

A flicker of movement caught his eye, looking off to his right he saw something glassy, just over the mist on the ground.

"Shepard…." The faint voice came again.

He bent down to examine it and saw that it was a glass faceplate, it was cracked and covered in purple blood. He was about to grasp it when the mist shifted.

It was Tali, the Quarian's exosuit was bloody and hole-ridden, her sightless eyes, visible through the cracks in the faceplate, seemed to bore in to him.

"Tali…No…" he gasped.

"I wouldn't want it any other way Commander….

Shepard stood up and backed away from her body. _How could this have happened?_

"Shepard!" this voice was louder, closer; he could make out who it belonged to.

Suddenly he found himself holding an assault rifle; he realized he had been holding it the whole time.

A projectile flew past his ear and turned to face his attacker.

Instead he saw Garrus and Liara run towards him.

They looked exhausted; they had been running for a long time. Liara's chest heaved and she collapsed to her knees in front of him, she was bleeding from her temple. Garrus limped to her side, he had been wounded badly.

"Shepard! Where are you?" Garrus yelled.

"I'm here, get down!" Shepard ran up to them, still searching for a target.

"Shepard, please!" Liara cried

Even though he had sprinted over to them, even though they were only a few feet away, he was unable to close the distance between them.

"Garrus, Liara, I'm right here, I can see you" he called out to them.

Liara tried to get on her feet, but her knees gave out as soon as she put weight on them.

Shepard stepped forward reflexively to help her, but still found himself unable to reach them.

A concussive round suddenly burst from nowhere, it smacked Garrus but somehow he didn't fall down. A second missile, this one a fiery projectile rammed into him, setting him alight.

He heard his friend scream and fall thrashing to the ground.

Another figure came down from the sky and landed next to Garrus' pain wracked form.

"I am assuming direct control." Harbinger announced.

The figure was bathed in fire for a moment. After the fire had dispersed, it walked up to Garrus, and paused to consider him. Garrus had stopped convulsing and was very still, he was moaning though, he was still alive.

`Shepard shouldered his rifle and fired at his enemy, but the bullets flew right through the Husk.

Garrus let out a ragged breath and stopped moving completely. Harbinger rose and walked over to Liara.

"Garrus! No!" Shepard cried.

Liara unleashed a biotic power of some kind at the approaching figure, but it didn't even faze the approaching horror.

Shepard fired again and again but Harbinger continued its ominous march, he picked up the Asari by the throat.

"Shepard." She choked out.

Harbinger turned his gaze from her and looked at him, acknowledging Shepard for the first time.

"You will know pain Shepard." it announced and squeezed her neck until he heard a sickening crunch.

"NO!" he screamed.

Harbinger reared back as if throw a ball, only a ball of fire flew from its hand instead, it raced at him faster than he could move, and it crashed into him, throwing him off his feet and bathing him in fire.

It burned right through his armor, his skin shrieked at the violence being done to his body.

"The cycle cannot be broken human." Harbinger whispered.

Shepard screamed

(**)

Liara knocked on Shepard's door; she could just make put the sound of movement in the room.

"Come in" he called wearily.

The door slid open, walking in she looked around for him.

The sound of the sink running in the bathroom gave her his location.

"Are you alright?" she asked him.

Shepard walked out of the bathroom toweling off his face. There were deep bags under his eyes.

"I had a rough night." He responded.

"Are you alright though?" she asked again, taking a step towards him.

"I'm fine Liara, one bad night won't kill me" he replied, stretching.

Crossing her arms she looked at him.

Holding up his hands in mock surrender Shepard smiled. "It was just a nightmare Liara, I'm fine really."

"Hmm"

Rubbing his eyes he yawned. "Have we reached Palaven yet?"

"Not yet, EDI says we have about half an hour left." She said softly.

"Great" He walked over to his bed, sitting on it he let out a deep breath.

She walked closer to him, unsure as to how to broach the topic.

"John…"

"Uh oh you're calling me by my first name, that's a bad sign."

Ignoring the joke Liara took another step. "John, I assume by the kiss that you wanted to stay together, but I won't blame you if you don't" She said quickly.

"Of course I do" he answered simply.

Liara smiled "Good, I was worried."

Shepard stood and walked to her, taking her in his arms. "Were you really?" he asked mockingly.

Wrapping her hands around his neck she moved closer to him. "Only a little, there were an awful lot of women throwing themselves at you last year."

He laughed "None of them had a chance against you."

Continuing he said "You know…Mars was the first time we had seen each other for a long while."

"Yes"

"There was more than one reason why I was happy to see you."

"Really? I'd like to hear them" a sudden knock on the door made them both jump. "But maybe some other time" she said disappointedly.

Leaning up she kissed him on the cheek, before adopting her professional appearance again.

The door opened and a woman in Alliance fatigues walked in.

"Commander I'm Specialist Samantha…oh" the woman trailed off uncertainly.

"I was just leaving" Liara said stiffly, walking past her.

The woman watched her leave before turning back to Shepard. "Commander I'm Specialist Samantha Traynor Alliance R and D, I was attached to the _Normandy_ retrofit, I came along when Joker and Lt. Commander Williams took the ship.

Holding out his hand Shepard nodded to her "Good to meet you Specialist"

"It's wonderful to meet you too Commander, I hope you've managed to settle in comfortably"

"The ships' a bit different than when I dropped her off that's for sure." He said wryly.

Her face lit up "I can give you a tour if you'd like sir" she said exuberantly.

Taking out a datapad she moved closer to him, angling the device so that he could see the display.

Images of the new interior design popped up and one by one she selected and explained them to him.

"Lots of changes I see" he said politely.

"Oh yes, we had more in mind, we were only half finished when the Reapers attacked." She said sadly.

"It's nice to be flying Alliance colors again, and the ship looks good." Shepard said. "You guys did a good job with her."

She smiled brilliantly "Thank you sir, but I didn't do that much"

The intercom chirped. "Specialist Traynor has been invaluable in her services, I request that she remain aboard the ship"

"You've got it EDI" Shepard said, looking towards the speaker.

"Wait, VIs don't make requests, and they don't pop in on conversations without prompting." Traynor said confused.

"EDI is a fully capable AI, I appreciate her input." He told her.

"Jeff requested that I disguise myself as a VI in order to avoid detection by Alliance officials, the deception was necessary." EDI explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry EDI, about all those times I said what a remarkable VI you were….and how…attractive…your voice was." Traynor stammered.

"Shepard we are nearing Palaven" EDI reported.

"On my way" Shepard answered.

Inclining his head towards Traynor "Specialist"

"Good luck Commander" she said, saluting.

"Thanks Traynor, we just might need it" he replied as the elevator doors closed.

(**)

Vega looked at the nearby vid screen; it displayed current footage of Palaven. In space the fleet was doing its best to break through to the surface.

Groundside great swathes of land were aflame, giving the planet an almost volcanic appearance.

"Oh no…Palaven."Liara gasped

Vega broke his gaze from the display and looked at his companions.

"We have an old friend there" Shepard said

"Damn…he had to make it through all that?" Vega asked no one in particular.

"Commander, we're almost to the LZ, looks hot." Cortez, the shuttle pilot, reported.

Vega put on his helmet and took a deep breath, releasing it after a count of three.

"Alright, get ready people." Shepard had donned his own helmet, standing ready at the door.

The hatch unlocked with a hiss of air and they swung open. As the shuttle came in for landing, Shepard started firing at a target Vega was unable to see.

"Husks!" he warned.

Vega considered which weapon to use, opting to take out the shotgun; husks were annoyingly social SOB's.

"Let's go!" Vega bellowed.

He stood behind Shepard and both men leapt out right as the shuttle reached the ground.

The Husks, attempting to overrun a Turian camp didn't notice the new arrivals. Vega charged up and started blasting, killing three before the enemy registered his presence. One threw itself at him, managing to latch on to his armor.

He roared and grabbed onto it. Once he had a firm grip he tried to peel it off, but it had a death grip. Suddenly a bullet hit it through the side, and it fell apart.

"There's more on the way!" T'soni reported.

A gaggle of the things, roaring in their inhuman voices charged at them, ignoring the defeat of the previous charge.

Vega saw a bluish purple field surround T'soni, even her eyes had changed. He watched amazed as she created a biotic field, a singularity he thought it was. The field grabbed up the whole group of husks.

She threw a focused charge at the doomed Husks, the resulting explosion made Vega stumble back.

The combination of the biotics had taken out most of the Husks, the squad was able to taken out those that had survived without too much trouble.

Vega turned towards the camp, which as he made out was more of a compound. The door to the base opened and a pair of exhausted Turians met them.

"Commander Shepard? Thank the spirits you're here, General Corinthus is expecting you inside." One of the men told him.

Shepard nodded at the guards "Let's go"

They moved forward, one of the guards was lying on the ground on the inside of the wall; he had been shot through the head. There were several other Turian soldiers nearby who had been killed the same way.

For whatever reason this stuck out to Vega, form what had seen the Reaper ground troops didn't put an emphasis on accuracy.

"These guys look like they've been taking a pounding" he remarked.

"From what EDI's told us the Reapers hit Palaven a few hours after Sol, they had more warning, at least." Liara answered.

"However much that helped them" Vega said dryly.

The compound was made up of several small barrack type structures, several men where running back and forth from a larger one, _Rule one: The big ones are the important ones_

The man, who had always told that joke was dead, had been dead for months. Vega still heard his voice, still heard the voices of all the men he had lost.

He looked at Shepard; he had lost his entire unit at Akuze, Kaiden Alenko on Virmire, and more than a third of his crew to the Collectors. _I wonder if he still hears their voices. _He thought.

Upon reaching the main barrack the squad had to wait for Corinthus to finish ordering some of his men before he turned his attention to him.

"Commander Shepard, I've heard a lot about you." The general said.

"General, we're here to evac Primarch Fedorian, he's sorely needed." Upon hearing those words Corinthus looked down at his hands, he looked upset, even for a Turian.

"Primarch Fedorian is dead." He said finally.

"I'm sorry, I heard he was a good man." Shepard replied.

"And a friend, he would have made an excellent politician." Corinthus said with conviction."

"What do we do now?" Vega asked aloud

"The Turian hierarchy has very clear lines of succession." Liara informed him.

"Your friend is right, right now it looks like the current Primarch is General Victus, he was about three kilometers north of here, but we don't know if he's still there."

"Can you contact him?" Shepard asked.

"We've tried, but there's so much interference from the Reapers that it's hard to get signals through."

"Don't worry Shepard, we'll find him." A new voice said confidently.

A second Turian walked up a ramp towards them, the right half of his face had been burned and shredded at some point, but had mostly healed.

"Garrus!" Shepard said enthusiastically.

"Good to see you again Shepard." The Turian said moving forward to clasp the Commander's hand. "And you too Liara" he said, looking at her.

"Good to see you in one piece Garrus." She said smiling.

The Turian paused at Vega. "Lieutenant James Vega" he said, extending his hand.

Garrus shook the proffered hand politely before turning his attention back to Shepard.

"I was with Victus not too long ago, I can-" the rest of his sentence was drowned out by the roar of some sort of flying machine monster that soared over the base, dropping fireballs that disintegrated parts of several barracks.

It took fire from the ground and angled off in one direction.

"Damn, it went straight for the airfield; if we lose that airfield this base is as good as lost." Corinthus growled.

Jokers voice suddenly cut through the comm. "_Normandy_ to ground team _Normandy _to ground team. Come on Commander do you hear me?"

"Joker, this is ground team what's the situation?" Shepard answered.

"Our guest unexpectedly woke up, she's banging around in the AI hub, EDI's not responding or anything." The pilot explained.

"Want me to go check it out?" Liara asked

"I can get her to the _Normandy_ fast sir." Cortez cut in.

Shepard nodded. "Do it"

She ran to the shuttle and Shepard turned towards Vega and Garrus.

"We'll take that airfield, that is, as long as those rockets didn't permanently damage your aim Garrus." He said to them.

Vega looked at the Turian who had materialized a Mantis out of nowhere. "You wish" the man answered with a chuckle.

"Rockets?" he asked uncertainly

"Garrus here decided to fight a gunship with his face, the gunship won." Shepard said teasingly.

"Yeah, but we both know that these scars get me all the ladies." Garrus shot back

"Oh yeah…if you're in to Krogan"

_I've got a feeling that there's going to be a lot of inside jokes here_ Vega realized

(**)

Garrus took aim and squeezed the trigger, blowing the husk's head away. More replaced it however, a seemingly endless horde charged at their position.

"Shepard whenever you and I are together there's always lots and lots of husks. Did I ever mention I hate husks?"

"At least they don't shoot lightning like the old ones did." Shepard replied as he stabbed his blade deep into a husk's chest.

"That doesn't really console me." Garrus said, yelling over the screaming husk swarm.

_Husks, husks, why are there always so many damn husks?_ He asked himself.

That trooper that Shepard had brought with him, James, was struggling to repair a damaged turret that was sorely needed at the moment. The swarm had nearly reached the wall they had taken up refuge on.

"James is that damn turret fixed yet?" Shepard was wrestling down a cannibal who had decided to charge up and fist fight instead of staying at range.

"I'm working on it Loco, this thing's uncooperative is all" James called back.

"Well hurry up and make it cooperative, we need it as soon as possible." Shepard threw the cannibal of the wall and fired a burst into its head, putting a period on his sentence.

"Where are Tali and Grunt when you need them?" Garrus asked, ramming the butt of his rifle into yet another husk.

"Grunt would just rip the turret off the ground and pitch it at them" Shepard answered.

"Well at least that would be funny"

"I have no idea who you guys are talking about right now, but the turret is fixed." James said matter-of-factly.

"Finally!" Shepard jumped up to the turret and starting unloading on the approaching swarm, which had just started to scale the wall and surrounding cliffs.

The swarm was torn to pieces by the turret's stream of rounds, but continued its assault, gaining troops from a surge of fireballs that unleashed more husk-forms.

Entering the battlefield for the first time were Turian-husks, they had long rifles and shot with an accuracy that most troops had to strive for.

"New ones!" James reported.

Shepard turned the gun on the Turian-husks, the sheer volume of bullets tearing them to pieces.

"I vote that we call them Marauders" James said happily

"Marauders?" Garrus asked incredulously.

"Garrus he gives people nicknames, just go with it." Shepard said as he mopped up the last of the husk swarm.

Before he could reply another fireball crashed down in front of the wall. Out of this one came a great hulking mass of metal and meat. It had great claw-like appendages where its hands should have been. Its face was the top half of a Turian's head; its eyes were filled with a seething blue rage.

An image of Saren briefly crossed his mind.

"Holy shit, what's that thing?" James said in horror.

It bellowed and charged the wall slamming into it with massive force. The top half of their position gave way, Shepard fell to the ground with a cry, Garrus, barely keeping a hold on the wall himself, looked down at the massive abomination.

The creature had been dazed by its own attack, this save Shepard his life. The man leapt up after recovering from the fall, and left with only his Assault rifle he backed away from their enemy.

"Garrus, James, I need some fire on this thing now!" he ordered.

Garrus pulled himself back up, knocking the ruined turret off the wall with his action.

He grasped his rifle which thankfully, hadn't fallen off of the wall, turning back towards the fight he saw that the creature had pulled itself together, and that James had jumped down with Shepard. The two men were firing at it from opposing directions and it seemed to have difficulty picking which one to attack.

Garrus shouldered his rifle, looking through the scope he targeted one of its eyes. He pulled the trigger only to hear a _click_.

_Damn, the thermal clip must have fallen out _Garrus realized.

Pulling another clip from a slot in his armor he slammed it into his rifle. He sighted up again.

He waited for the thing to charge Shepard, who rolled away, and fired.

The round hit it dead in the head and it jerked back. Righting itself the thing looked up at him and roared.

"Garrus, you might want to move." James panted.

Garrus ignored him and set his weapon to Armor piercing ammo.

"Just keep it up; we've got this monster now." Shepard said confidently.

Garrus fired again, this time the round pierced through, blowing off a great chunk of its already damaged armor.

The damage didn't slow it down a pace however, it crashed into the way a second time, denting it further and sending him tumbling down onto the rocks below.

He hit the ground hard, his head slammed into the ground and all he could see for a moment were two bright blue stars, then he realized he was looking into the eyes of the Reaper.

Its body was crushed from the two impacts, and it was riddled with holes that bled some kind of black ichor, but it had energy enough to raise its claws above its head, poised to level the final strike.

A red burst slammed into the once-Turian face and the creature staggered backwards into the wall.

It let out one final groan and collapsed on to the ground its body broken.

Shepard walked up to him, James right behind, offering him a hand Shepard asked if he were alright.

"Nothing some Medi-gel wouldn't cure." He said with a sigh.

"Hey Scars, you might like sniper rifles, but I'll take a good shotgun any day." James said, tapping his gun for emphasis.

"So I'm scars now?" Garrus asked.

"Yep, and this big guy on the ground here, he's a Brute." James said with a grin.

"James, quit assigning nicknames, we've got work to do" Shepard said, leaving the battlefield behind.

Garrus caught up with him "Victus is at the forward position, not too far from here, I'll get you there quick."

Shepard sighed "How's your military holding up Garrus?"

"You see that ship crashed on the mountain to our right? That's the norm."

"Looks about as well as we did on Earth, don't feel too bad" James said.

"I haven't heard too much about the outside since the war started, how are things in the galaxy, besides from the impending doom I mean."

"Well actually we're here to get Victus to be the representative for a summit the Council races are holding." Shepard answered.

James muttered something about the summit; Garrus couldn't quite make it out.

"Just the council races then?"

"Yeah Commander, Turians and Humans are alright, and those Salarian STG guys are pretty good. But Asari?"

"I think you know firsthand how dangerous Asari can be James" Shepard said with a smirk.

"Yeah okay, but what about the Batarians and the Krogan? Where's the meat?" James said having to walk faster in order to catch up.

"Well the Batarians were the first to get attacked by the Reapers, and they got hit by the full might of their fleet, not to mention how many of them were indoctrinated beforehand, so I'd imagine they're out of the picture." Garrus informed him.

"And the Krogan never forgave the greater galaxy for the Genophage; they'd need a lot of convincing." Shepard said.

"They wouldn't help even with the Reapers attacking?"

"Luckily for us we've got influence with the Krogan leadership, so hopefully they'll see reason." Shepard continued.

"I hope so, I've fought with a Krogan before…they're tough sons of bitches" James replied.

They were halfway there before an explosion caused them all to stop dead.

"The base is just over that hill, the Reapers must already be attacking it."

"Let's move people; we've got a base to save" Shepard sprinted towards the battle, Garrus and James close behind.

(**)

The wall that had protected the base had been knocked down, and what remained of the Turian defense forces stationed there had taken refuge on top of the barracks. They were doing their best to fight back against the Reapers, but they were in dire straits.

Fortunately for the Turians help had arrived in the form of one of their own and two armored humans.

Shepard riddled the backs of several Reapers before they charged back at him. Diving to the side James charged forward, blowing husks away with his shotgun. Garrus stood in the back; taking targets of opportunity where he could.

The Reaper troops, now being attacked on all sides were unable to adjust to the new assault quickly. As a result many of them were taken out before they could respond appropriately.

However more fireballs fell from the sky, bringing ever more Reaper troops into the fray.

Shepard winced as the fireballs shook the ground; the fall earlier had left him somewhat unsteady on his feet, and the miniature earthquakes did nothing to help his cause.

"You okay Commander?" James asked concerned.

"Yeah, but I'm really starting to hate the new Reaper transport system."

"Just don't have a heart attack on the battlefield old-timer."

Several more fire balls crashed down, their impacts knocking several Turians off of their positions.

Out of the smoke came a trio of Brutes along with dozens of smaller Reaper troops. The brutes roared challenges and rushed forth eagerly to attack.

"On second thought, maybe a heart attack would be a nice way out" James said wearily.

Shepard checked his clip, a few more shots were left in it, and he had three clips remaining; not enough to kill even one of these brutes.

"Human!" he heard a voice call.

Shepard tracked the voice, one of the Turians waved at him. "Over here! Take the Blackstar" the soldier called.

The Brutes were not charging yet, instead they patiently walked towards him, waiting for the best moment to strike.

"James, Garrus; cover me" Shepard shouted. He sprinted full out to the weapon, it sounded intimidating at least.

Unfortunately his path cut it close to one of the Brutes, who took the opportunity to charge at him, bellowing.

It just barely missed him, slamming into one of the barrack walls instead. Shepard hurled himself over the fallen body of a cannibal, landing at the base of another barrack. The Turian on the roof gestured down, Shepard look towards the direction of the man's point, seeing the weapon he grabbed at it.

It was long and silvered. The words "Reaper Blackstar Mark I" were written on the side in English surprisingly.

He turned about, the brute that had charged him was walking towards him, the rest had gathered up in a convenient bunch behind it.

Brining the weapon to bear, Shepard abruptly realized that he didn't know exactly what it would do.

Quashing the thought he squeezed the trigger, the Blackstar started to hum and shake violently. The Reapers continued to advance, the lead Brute ignored the fire that Garrus and James poured on it.

_Come on, fire. Fire dammit! _Shepard thought desperately.

The Brute edged closer, leaning downwards it prepared to charge, its eyes blazing with pure delight.

The weapon finally fired, surprisingly with little kickback. It sheared through the first brute and the second, and the third. When it struck the ground it let out a tremendous explosion which consumed the greater amount of the Reapers.

"Holy shit" James stammered.

"Still not as spectacular as the Cain was the first time you used it." Garrus said unconcernedly.

They made short work of the remaining Reapers. After the battle a Black and silver armored Turian walked up to Shepard.

"Commander! Excellent timing, the Reapers nearly had us there for a moment." Pausing her looked to Garrus

"Vakarian, where were you?"

"Heavy Reaper unit on the right flank? I believe your words were "Get those things the hell off of my men" he replied.

Shepard stepped forward "General Victus, you're needed in Council Space"

Victus turned to him. "I understand the severity of the situation but I'm needed here with my men."

"Primarch Fedorian is dead, those immediately under him are dead; like it or not you're the new Primarch" Garrus informed him.

Victus looked down at his feet, turning around he looked across the surface of Menae.

"I'm the Primarch of Palaven?" he said finally

"Yes, and you're needed badly." Shepard said to him.

Victus didn't say anything for a long moment. "Let me say goodbye to my men."

"Of course"

Garrus had wandered off to a nearby cliff.

Shepard walked up to him, he didn't say anything at first.

"Not quite like the old days is it Shepard?" Garrus asked him

"Not quite" Shepard agreed.

Garrus pointed to a Reaper on the horizon. "Look at that! And I'm supposed to be advising them on how to fight it?" he said bitterly.

"Yeah, I understand how you feel Garrus" Shepard said in a hollow voice.

"I know you do Shepard, and I know that whatever happens you'll be out there in the thick of things, fighting them just like you used to." Garrus said confidently.

"You've got that right"

"Do you think you've got room for an old friend on the _Normandy_?" Garrus asked.

"Always." Shepard replied, he reached over and patted his friend on the shoulder.

"Thank you Shepard"

"Don't be too happy, there's going to be a lot more husks to fight."

"Words can't really describe how much I hate husks" Garrus said sourly

"Well if Sovereign and Harbinger were any clue I think they hate you too Garrus"

"Well at least I'll be able to make fun of Joker again, I missed that pilot."

Shepard chuckled. "Yeah, we missed you too Garrus."


	7. EDI

**Chapter 6**

**EDI**

As the shuttle made its way back to the ship, Shepard explained the situation to Victus. The man didn't say a word until he had finished his explanation.

"Shepard I understand the need for the Turian fleets to retake Earth, and I'm willing to help. But I cannot send you troops while my homeworld is under siege." Victus said honestly

"But is the pressure on Palaven could be lifted…." He said meaningfully.

"That's a tall order Primarch."

"We need the Krogan Shepard; I don't see how we'll be able to win this war without them."

"I figured they'd come into the equation, but do you think they'll help the Turians willingly?" Shepard responded.

"I was hoping that you could help with that, from what I understand you have close ties with Urdnot Wrex, the Krogan leader." Victus said carefully.

"The Commander and Wrex go way back Primarch, if anyone could convince him to help Palaven, it'd be him" Garrus spoke up.

"Commander if you can get the Krogan to alleviate pressure on Palaven you can count on the Turian armada to help humanity retake Earth."

It was a lot to ask but the Turian's had one of if not the most powerful Navy in the galaxy, they'd be essential in retaking Earth.

"I'll do what I can Primarch" Shepard said after a moments consideration. "But I hope you won't mind an extended stay on the _Normandy_ until this summit gets settled out."

"From what I heard it's a fine ship, and seeing as how much weight it carries nowadays, I think it will be more than adequate." Victus said quietly.

Joker's voice suddenly burst into Shepard's ear.

"Commander, EDI still isn't responding to…well anything, sensors are picking up a fire in the AI hub." He said worriedly.

"Cortez, how far out are we?" Shepard calmly asked Cortez.

"ETA forty-five seconds Commander." The shuttle pilot answered.

It was a good thing he had his helmet on, it made it a lot easier to talk to Joker. He didn't have to worry about the cultural snafu of having to explain to the Turian Primarch about the presence of an unshackled AI…at least not yet anyway.

"Joker, have Adams and an emergency team waiting at the AI hub, I'll be there as soon as we dock."

"You got it Commander."

Shepard turned his out audio back on. "Primarch Victus, James will escort you to the war-room; I'll have Traynor give you the full details when you arrive."

"Thank you Commander" Victus said

The shuttle landed in the docking bay exactly when Cortez had predicted, Shepard walked briskly to the elevator. From there he went to the Crew deck, aiming directly for the Med-bay.

Adams was there with three other men. He carried a small fire extinguisher, as did another of the men with him. The remaining two wielded Assault rifles, ready to deal with Core in case she burst out of the hub.

Adams looked to his Commander. "We can open it right now sir, it's up to you."

"Do it"

Adams opened the door via the access panel, a cloud of smoke billowed out of the now opened AI hub.

He and the other fire extinguisher carrying tech sprayed the area with the extinguishers, the thick foam put out the fires; enough smoke remained however to obscure proper vision of the room.

"EDI?" Shepard asked uncertainly. "EDI can you hear me?"

The sounds of footsteps emanated from the smoke, Shepard was shocked at the sight that greeted them.

It was Core, or at least had been. The body was now silvered and the damage caused to it had been removed. She had a small HUD over her eyes, just as silver as the rest of her body.

"Hello Shepard." EDI said brightly.

"EDI? Is that you?" Shepard asked, stunned.

The AI flexed her arms, examining their movements as she performed the action. "Yes, in part. I'm still integrated with the _Normandy_, but I am now also within this body."

"What happened EDI?" he asked sharply.

"The Artificial Intelligence known as Core reactivated itself and attempted to manually override my programming, I reacted by attacking her through her access point to my data-banks. Upon doing so I found myself in the unique position of having control over this body." EDI explained.

Shepard gestured to the shocked servicemen; the group took the hint and left him alone with her.

"EDI, are you sure that Core isn't in there anymore?" he asked.

"I am certain Shepard, the Cerberus AI has been completely erased, I am in complete control." She said confidently.

"Shepard, there is another option that has now been given to me." She continued.

"And that option is?"

"You know first-hand how well this body performed in combat. I would like to accompany any ground teams when I am able."

Shepard blinked. "Are you sure that you'd want to be on the frontlines EDI?"

"Yes, Shepard."

Shepard considered the choice given to him; she would be an undeniable asset, but to have an unshackled AI running around in the middle of combat?

_Well I did let Legion join the team last time._ He consented.

"Welcome to the team EDI….officially I mean." He said finally.

"Thank you Shepard, I have no doubt that Jeff will want to see me. You can talk to me as you normally would, but this body will be in the cockpit." Shepard swore the AI sounded almost happy.

She walked gracefully past him.

_How is it that I manage to attract such a diverse crew?_ He asked himself.

Shepard walked up to the Vid-com terminal and called Admiral Hackett, the man had been difficult to reach in the past few days; it had been nearly a week since they had last spoken.

Thankfully he was able to reach his superior this time.

"Shepard, how went the mission of Palaven?" Hackett asked.

"We retrieved the Primarch with no problems; however Palaven is taking a beating."

"To be expected, so can we count on the Turians being present at the summit?"

"Yes, but we'll have to count one more race in at the proceedings." Shepard informed him. "The Krogan."

Hackett put his palm on the underside of his chin. "The Krogan will be an unexpected addition Shepard; you're liable to ruffle some feathers by bringing them into this."

"I know sir, but the Primarch requested their presence specifically, he promised to aid Earth if I could convince the Krogan to help the Turians on Palaven."

"Well if that's the case then I don't see how you have a choice. But the summit is days away at best, weeks would be more of a reasonable guess." Hackett said.

"I know sir, but at least it's going to happen." Shepard answered reasonably.

Hackett looked off to one side, answering an unheard question. Returning his gaze to Shepard his voice became all business.

"Shepard, I've got a mission for you that requires immediate attention."

"My team is ready for anything Admiral." He replied confidently.

"Several weeks ago a science team on Eden Prime made another discovery near the same dig site that uncovered the Prothean beacon you were exposed to four years ago."

_God has it been that long? Four years since Eden Prime? Three years since the Battle of the Citadel? It seems like yesterday_

Hackett went on. "The day the Reapers attacked the colony went dark. We all assumed that they had been attacked by Reapers but yesterday we were contacted by members of the Eden Prime Defense Forces.

"What happened sir?"

"The colony has been invaded by Cerberus forces, from what we can tell they focused primarily on the areas know to have Prothean dig sites."

"You think Cerberus is after whatever the dig team found."

Hackett nodded "Shepard, I need you to go there, find what they're after and retrieve it before the Illusive Man gets his hands on it."

"I'll get it done sir" Shepard replied, the memories of the last time he was on the planet were already resurfacing.

"Good, and Shepard…"

"Yes sir?"

"We've finished analyzing the plans that you sent, construction has already begun. Hackett informed him. "The Research team has dubbed it "Project Crucible"

"Can you build the whole thing even without the missing data?" Shepard asked.

"We can build everything Shepard, but the missing data is what we believe to be the part that powers the device." Hackett replied.

"As soon as I can, I'll find the data sir."

"I know you will Shepard, Hackett out."

The vid closed off and Admiral Hackett sighed. He was aboard the MSV _Kilimanjaro_, one of the few Alliance Dreadnoughts that had managed to survive the initial Reaper attack.

Looking out the window he saw the skeleton of the Crucible, the device was being worked on day and night, but it was truly amazing how much they had been able to build already.

_It's been over a week since the Reapers took Earth, now we're throwing all out dice hoping that this thing will work. _

"God help us if it doesn't" he whispered softly.


	8. Where it all began

**Chapter 7**

**Where it all began**

Shepard felt a sense of Déjà vu when he stepped off of the shuttle, his boots sinking into the not-yet frozen earth of Eden Prime.

It had been four years; four years since Shepard, Alenko, Jenkins, and Nihlus had been dropped on the planet. It struck him that he was the only member of that group that was still alive.

Looking around he examined the colony, it nearly as bad now as it had then. The buildings were aflame, and great plumes of smoke reached high in the air. Distant sounds of gunfire gave the scene an almost surreal appearance.

"Shepard, are you alright?" Garrus asked.

Shepard didn't answer at first, continuing to look out across the landscape.

"Shepard?" Garrus sounded worried.

"I'm fine Garrus, this scene is just becoming too familiar, that's all." Shepard replied.

Garrus nodded "Cerberus certainly isn't trying to be as subtle as they used to be."

"In eight months Cerberus has gone from a paramilitary organization to a war machine, there was no way they could occupy a planet like this back when we worked with them."

"Liara, was there anything that ever suggested that they could launch a campaign like this?" Shepard asked, turning to the Asari.

"They've always had the ability to focus their resources, and they did operate a small fleet, but the troops movements we've been seeing are much more than what was expected." She answered.

"Seems like Cerberus made some changes since we left, shame they had to go insane on us." Garrus joked.

Shepard shook his head. "At any rate, we're here to stop them."

"EDI, where is the dig site?" he asked

Her voice buzzed in his ear. "The dig site is located two hundred meters to your direct North Shepard; Cerberus troops will likely be in strong concentration near and around your location."

She placed a tracking beacon on the map, placed near the object that everyone was after.

Wasting no time, the trio set off for the site. In what seemed like standard procedure for Eden Prime, the dig site was surrounded by a small cluster of the rounded capsule-like homes that many outer colonies used.

"We're closing in on the beacon Shepard." Liara stated

When a large crack in the ground impeded their progress they were forced to take a detour through one of the capsules. The home was in disarray, half cooked food lay on an oven that had been hastily turned off, and sounds emanated from a nearby room.

Investigating Shepard found three dead Alliance personnel, they were all lying on or around a table which had be positioned to give a good view of a nearby TV. The screen had been shot, the last displayed picture having been a Sporting event of some kind.

Liara crouched and examined the dead men.

"They were shot in the head Shepard." She said, looking up at him.

"These guys were just sitting here enjoying their off hours and watching the game. They had no warning." He said disgustedly. "They didn't deserve this.

"Shepard, you and I both know how Cerberus works. They always have agents on the inside of a project." Garrus spoke up.  
"I bet you the men they had here disabled the security systems, letting Cerberus just walk right in while the guards were on break." He continued.

"That's Cerberus standard Procedure alright." Shepard agreed.

"I bet if we looked around here, we might be able to find data that would link us to those spies, or at the very least maybe we can find some data that might help the resistance."

"Good idea, if we find anything that might be of use, we'll send it right along." Shepard said approvingly.

Liara stood up from the fallen soldiers and nodded. "I'll keep my eye out."

They started off for the beacon again, Shepard was suddenly wary; they had not encountered a single Cerberus trooper so far.

_You'd figure that they'd have guards swarming all over this place_

They exited the dwelling through a rear door, they were left in a sort of half courtyard, and there were several more homes like the one they had just left that all had doors leading here.

The courtyard itself was made up of a small amount of grassed areas that ended at a platform which extended ten meters or so out over a sheer cliff.

It was an impressive view, but it was what was on top of the platform that drew the most attention.

"By the Goddess…" Liara whispered, already dashing towards it.

To Shepard it was a casket. It was around eight feet long, with a dark onyx coloring that was broken by deep veins of dark green energy.

Liara had already tapped into the nearby data terminal.

"Shepard, this is a Prothean stasis pod…and the readings indicate the inhabitant is still alive!" she reported with rising excitement.

"Wait…A Prothean? Like the Collectors or like those dead ones we found on Ilos?" Garrus asked.

"Like the ones on Ilos. This Prothean has been in stasis for over fifty thousand years, it's amazing that their technology could preserve his life for so long" Liara's old side had surfaced again, she seemed more like the excited young archaeologist again, not at all like a cold information dealer.

"Can we open it?" Shepard inquired, rubbing his hand over the smooth surface of the pod.

"We can't open it yet, according to the data, we require a special code to open it. She paused, reading the data stream her Omni-tool was displaying.

"It looks like the code was broken into fragments. Cerberus more than likely has them already and is just having difficulty cracking them." She informed them.

Right as she finished her sentence a bullet whisked past their heads. A pair of white shuttles soared overhead, angling down for the clearing. A third had somehow gone unnoticed and its offloaded men closed in for the attack.

"Take cover!" Shepard barked.

The squad was in a bad sort; two shuttles worth of troops were landing off to the right, all while the first batch was pressing their advantage.

"Target priority is the Asari, the Turian and Shepard are kill on sight" Shepard hear one of them yell.

Shepard smiled in grim satisfaction as the offending trooper's head exploded; he turned his gaze to Garrus, who was jamming a new thermal clip into his weapon.

"Hey Liara, think we could get a good singularity in the middle of that group there?" the Turian asked, ducking back behind the pod.

Without saying a word she jumped up, rearing back she threw the singularity at the line of Cerberus troops.

It was highly effective; the entire first wave of men had been thrown into the air by the field. Several of the second wave, who had just made it there, were picked up and thrown about along with their brethren.

Taking a deep breath she threw a warp field directly into the singularity that she had created.

The resulting explosion caused by the chain reaction from the two biotic fields annihilated the humans caught nearby, and the few remaining men, dazed from the attack, were easy to pick off.

"Cerberus knows we're here now, let's find those fragments quickly." Liara was already moving away from the pod.

"Would Cerberus really keep them nearby?" Shepard inquired.

"Normally I'd say no, but this dig is mediocre at best, plus it's being rushed. They'll have it within walking distance so as to open the stasis pod as quickly as possible."

"Remind me again where you got your biotic training Liara." Garrus said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Liara asked, confused.

"Well despite all of your talk about being "just a scientist" you fight like an Asari Commando."

"I have to admit, archeologists and biotic death don't really seem like two fields that would cross under most circumstances." Shepard chimed in.

"Well…being a Matriarch's daughter I did routine biotic training as a child." She replied evasively.

"Who trained you?" Shepard pressed

"A family friend, her name was Aldeena" she said evenly.

"EDI, mind running a background check on Matriarch Benezia's known associates? Specifically those named Aldeena." Shepard said, grinning.

"Certainly" EDI said brightly

Liara made a chocked noise, Garrus chuckled and waited expectantly.

"Most likely Result: Aldeena Savorny, former confidant of Matriarch Benezia, she was one of the foremost leaders in Asari expansionism. She is the current Ambassador to Bekenstein, where she lives with two of her daughters. Before her time as an ambassador she was a banker, a chef…

She went on describing each of the woman's former positions. Although the squad was moving and her back was to Shepard, he could see Liara was uncomfortable.

"….a taxi driver on Ilium, and a member of the Armali commando unit, where she was the biotic specialist."

"Aha! There it is!" Garrus said triumphantly.

"There should be two research stations in the area, more than likely they've been trying to crack them separately, one at either station." Liara said, not responding to Garrus's crack.

"Doctor T'soni is correct, the nearest station is to your direct North, Cerberus troops are fortified in and around the building it is housed in, and more are on the way."EDI informed.

Several more shuttles flew over the area, emphasizing EDI's statement.

Shepard moved forward, Liara and Garrus behind, moving through another building he paused at a nearby computer terminal. It was openly displaying Cerberus troop movements throughout the colony. They were using the shuttle flybys to make it seem like they had a lot more men than they really did.

There was a small document attached to the movement information, it stressed that they didn't have enough men to push the resistance back; the shuttle ops were their main strategy in fighting the resistance.

Waving his Omni-tool over the computer he downloaded all of the information.

"EDI, I'm sending you data on Cerberus troop movements, forward it to the resistance."

"Message sent Shepard."

"Cerberus must use this area as their main hub, strange that there weren't more troops here." Garrus murmured.

"Our landing here coincided with a planned raid on Constant, the troops that would normally be here were more than likely diverted to the city."

"How's the city holding up?" Shepard asked.

"Most of the city's inhabitants had already fled; those who stayed would not have survived if the entire force had struck it as was originally planned. For now; the Resistance in Constant is holding its own; however more Cerberus reinforcements are en route to both the city, and your current location."

"Probably best if we moved quickly Shepard" Garrus spoke up

Shepard nodded, moving out of the building the squad immediately fell under fire, several Cerberus troopers had taken high positions on the top of the structure holding one of the code fragments, and were using their height advantage to great effect.

"Liara, can you get a singularity off on them?"

She shook her head. "I haven't fully recovered yet, I can't do it." The ground shook as a grenade went off nearby.

A bullet pinged right next to his head, Shepard ducked reflexively. "Garrus! Do you have a clear shot on them?"

"No." the Turian yelled over the gunfire. "If you can distract them for a moment I can take a couple out though."

Grimacing Shepard glanced around the area. Five men were on the roof of the building, and two more had appeared on the ground level.

"Remember the Praetorian on Horizon?" he asked

Liara glanced at him confused, Garrus narrowed his eyes at his suggestion.

"Do you really want to try that?" he asked.

"it's better than nothing."

"Shepard, what are you-" Liara eyes widened in shock as Shepard vaulted over the wall they had used as cover and hurled himself at a nearby cluster of tires.

The Cerberus men followed him firing, but he managed to stay just ahead of their movements, making it safely behind the cover.

In the meantime Garrus leaned up from the wall and sighted up with his Mantis, in rapid succession he fired and reloaded three times, taking out three of their distracted assailants.

Turning back to Garrus and Liara yet another trooper met his death when Shepard fired a burst into his chest.

Suddenly the white armored men found themselves numerically even, and being fired upon from two sides.

The two men on the ground fled back into the refuge of the building, and the last man on the roof shot wildly until Garrus put a bullet in his head. The dead man fell off the building, landing on the ground with a crack of armor.

Garrus walked a few steps forward and aimed, taking a moment he held up a finger to his comrades. He fired one more shot and lowered his weapon, popping out the thermal clip and jamming in a new one.

"One more in the building Shepard." He reported.

"Come on then, let's get that fragment."

"Please don't do that again John." Liara said, staring at him, her serene blue eyes tinted with anger.

"Hey, I'm fine aren't I?" he said

"That's no excuse and you know that." She crossed her arms.

"Well there was nothing else we could do."

Garrus fired again, looking at them "Last guy tried to rush us with a grenade, at least that's what I figured he was doing." He shrugged "doesn't really matter, its all clear now."

He jogged up the building, and disappeared within it.

Walking towards the door, Liara looked at Shepard. "Don't scare me like that; at least tell me what you're going to do."

"I'm sorry and I will next time, I promise." Shepard said softly.

"Look on the bright side, at least there wasn't a praetorian this time." Garrus called from inside.

The building was surprisingly small on the inside, it was completely dominated by two large terminals, and wires ran across most the floor. Two dead troopers lay there, one still clutching an inactivated grenade in his lifeless fingers.

Garrus was typing at one of the computers. Glancing over his shoulder he simply said "told you".

Liara huffed and walked over to help him, Shepard decided to go to the other station, and immediately felt a strange sensation, one that grew more prevalent as he moved closer to the computer.

_I haven't felt like this since…._

Acting on an impulse Shepard touched the screen, everything seemed to take on a green hue, he felt his mind open…

(**)

Explosions rocked the compound, though they were over half a dozen meters underground, Javik could still hear the great bellowing sounds of the Reapers. The city on the surface, protected by many soldiers, was lost. He knew this would be the case; the city would be sacrificed in order for the bunker to go by unnoticed.

Still Javik felt that if he were to close his eyes, the image of screaming people perishing in flame would be all that he would see.

_The Reapers will pay for every drop of blood that has been spilled across the stars._ He swore to the ghosts.

"I never thought that our empire would end like this." Etunak said, emotion making his voice crack.

Turning to his comrade Javik looked him in the eyes. "We have lost this war, but when we awaken we shall remake the empire, and wreak our vengeance upon the machines."

Etunak nodded. "For the empire." He intoned.

"For the empire" Javik repeated. "Now get to your life pod."

Turning away from him, Etunak hurried towards one of the many life pods within the large bunker. Over one million pods were here, each designed to hold one individual, with the function of keeping them alive over the millennia that would no doubt be spent in stasis.

It was part of a last effort to preserve the empire. One million of its greatest soldiers and leaders were to be put into stasis and hidden from the Reapers. There they would wait until the Reapers had been long gone, and new races had ventured out into the stars.

The Protheans would be awakened, and they would proceed to recreate the empire. They would be prepared for the arrival of the ancient enemy, and would use the young races as vessels to enact their vengeance.

Another explosion shook him out of his thoughts, this one was closer, coming from within the bunker.

"Victory! Report!" he spat, reaching for his weapon.

The green hued VI appeared before him, hands clasped behind his back.

"Indoctrinated forces have breached the outer door; they must be dealt with if the plan is to be put into motion." Victory reported.

Joined by dozens of soldiers, Javik turned to where the explosion had come from. A swarm of the fallen ones charged from the wreckage of the outer barrier, their skin blackened and lined with fiery orange veins. They reached out with hands that had become nothing more than metallic knives, designed only to cut and rend armor and flesh.

Bearing his teeth Javik took aim at the approaching force. These fallen would feel his vengeance.

(**)

Shepard's head jerked from the sensation of exiting the vision. It had been vivid, but not as painful as the first beacon had been.

"Shepard?" Garrus asked uncertainly

A series of symbols suddenly popped up on the screen, lighting up in neon green color.

"I had another vision, these symbols are part of the code." he said, reaching up to touch one of them, it seemed to react to his touch.

"What triggered the vision?" Liara asked eyes wide in excitement.

"When I got close to the computer I was drawn to a video it was displaying." Looking back at the screen Shepard noticed for the first time that aside from the symbols, it was all static.

"Obviously what I saw wasn't static; it almost felt like I was there."

"From what we found out, Cerberus knew the fragment was here, but they couldn't make sense out of it, all they got was static." Garrus said.

"Your experience with the beacons and the Cipher you received on Feros must have allowed you to make sense of the images." Liara sounded like a kid at a toy store. "Simply amazing"

"Let's get that other fragment." Shepard brought up his map, EDI had marked the other building; it was on the other side of the complex.

"Oh and Shepard, while you were…occupied…Liara found some information about Cerberus agents in the resistance. I took the liberty of having EDI upload it to the resistance."

"Nice job." Shepard said approvingly.

Moving out of the building they started for the second fragment, encountering heavy resistance along the way, including a new surprise; automatic turrets placed by mobile engineers.

These proved particularly effective at hampering their movements, made more so by the fact that the engineers seemed to have an unlimited supply of fresh turrets to deploy.

They managed to get around this threat however; by using a combination of Garrus' tech overload drain the shields of the men and machines, and then using Liara's biotics to grab them all up. Shepard was then able to neutralize the remaining hostiles with ease.

Still there were a lot of them, and by the time the squad had reached the second building they were bruised, battered, and exhausted.  
Looking over the truck he was using for cover, Shepard examined the men guarding the building. Two turrets, an engineer and a pair of regulars made it very difficult to claim the objective.

Taking a grenade from his belt he waited for Garrus overload the shields of the turrets before he lobbed it. The explosion knocked one of the troopers and both turrets, but the engineer quickly moved to place another.

The black and white armored man suddenly stopped mid-stride, held in place by a quickly thrown biotic. Liara ducked back down as the remaining soldier fired at her, taking the shot, Shepard ended his life as the man was distracted with her.

They walked quickly into the building, taking the time to slit the engineer's throat before the field wore off. The inside was nearly identical to the first, a small room dominated by a pair of large computer terminals.

Taking a deep breath Shepard walked closer to one of them, sensing the same sensation from before. He reached out a hand to a static filled vid on the screen he closed his eyes, letting the images come once more…

(**)

The fallen died in droves, but they were persistent, and they each managed to cause some amount of damage before their end. Their fierce combat had started dozens of fires in this area alone, and reports of dozens of breaches across the compound were streaming in.

"Victory! Seal the blast doors!" Javik yelled over the unnatural screams of the dying indoctrinated.

"Acknowledged" Victory's calm voice replied. The nearest blast door creaked and slowly started to close. Javik and his men moved with it, preventing any more of the enemy from getting past.

A soldier near him was suddenly thrown back, his skin aflame and his armor melting. Javik looked up to barely glimpse a fiery figure before the doors slammed shut. Kneeling he examined the warrior who had taken the blast.

He had died nearly instantaneously, which was the most someone could ask for when fighting an enemy such as this.

Standing Javik examined the scene around him. Fires, now being combatted by emergency teams were rampant as far as he could see, and just with a glance Javik saw that hundreds of life pods had been destroyed.

"Victory! Give me a status report!" Javik barked, walking towards where Etunak's pod had fallen

"Reaper forces have almost destroyed all ground forces in the city, and significant numbers have breached the outer blast doors." The VI reported.

Reaching the pod Javik input the open code, already knowing what he would find.

The Pod opened and a cloud of black smoke poured out. Once the smoke cleared the sight Etunak's body, twisted and contorted in pain, burnt nearly to the bone, greeted him.

The weight on his shoulders, ever present, suddenly got a little heavier.

"Reaper forces have destroyed approximately one-fifth of the stasis pods." Victory informed him.

Another explosion, coming from deep within the bunker, caused Javik to jerk his head around.

"Warning: enemy forces have penetrated the inner blast door in sector thirty two." Victory announced.

Looking around Javik counted the men that had survived the battle, a little less than a dozen.

"Quickly! Divert forces to the breach! We cannot allow them to further damage the complex!" Javik ordered, already sprinting towards sector thirty two.

Things weren't going to plan. _The Reapers must have known what we were doing, how else could they have found the bunker so quickly?_He thought bitterly

He would find a way to make the plan succeed even with the Reapers. They would not be defeated by the machines or their fallen minions.

(**)

When the vision ended, Shepard gasped and fell to his knees.

"Shepard!" Liara said at same time Garrus said "are you alright?"

"I'm okay, I'm okay. Just a little overwhelming is all." Shepard said weakly. "These things just weren't designed with humans in mind." _These visions are different, they're so vivid. They're almost like memories. _

Waving away the assistance they tried to give him he studied the monitor, more of the symbols form before were present, the rest of the code.

"We've got what we need, let's open that pod." He said determinedly

Nodding Garrus checked his rifle, popping out the thermal clip and jamming in a new one.

"Let's get it before any more Cerberus troops get here." Liara said, looking him over.

They moved so rapidly towards the pod that Shepard nearly walked directly into an ambush that a pair of engineers had set up.

Yet another pair of turrets lay just between them and the bridge they needed to cross, they did not move, but the engineers, standing in the middle of the open demonstrating their lack of experience, scanned the area warily, waiting for the squad to appear.

Both of the men had to be green, they had placed their turrets right out in the open and were standing behind them as if they were all the protection that was needed. _Then again, I wouldn't want to head on charge one of them._ Shepard thought.

"Engineers" he whispered.

Garrus sighted up, moving from target to target without firing. Taking a breath he closed his eyes for a moment. Opening them suddenly the Turian fired two shots in rapid succession, ejecting and replacing the clip in seconds.

Both of the Engineers were hit, one fell to the ground and didn't move. The other screamed and clutched at a useless arm, a sudden turn having saved his life.

The turrets swiveled on their tripods and opened up on them. A hail of bullets peppered the area all around them, forcing them to stay in cover until they stopped.

The pause would be brief, and taking advantage of the moment Shepard and Liara fired at one while Garrus overloaded both.

The focused turret exploded, fragments showering the area. The second seemed like it had been completely fried by the overload, it was jammed in one position, and would not fire.

Shepard shot it anyway, taking a small amount of satisfaction at seeing the second weapon explode.

The living engineer moaned and tried to pull himself away with his good arm, he was a bloody mess. His right arm ended at the shoulder, blood flowed like a river from the wound.

"Just ignore him, he's dead and we need to keep moving." Shepard told the other two.

Sprinting past the dying man Shepard thought he could just hear him say something.

"Please….don't…don't leave me…help me please…." The man begged.

The words fell on deaf ears, the squad kept moving and the destroyed man started to sob, cursing the man who had killed him.

(**)

Lieutenant James Whitehall waited impatiently for the shuttle to land.

"How much longer pilot?" he asked, not bothering to mask his anger. Dimly he was aware of repeatedly scratching his left gauntlet with his combat knife, deepening an already large gouge in the armor.

"Not long sir, but it sounds like Shepard is near the pod already, the LZ's going to be hot" the man up front answered.

He smiled and even the men who had fought next to him for years dropped their gaze from their leader's face.

They had been on their way to crush the pathetic rabble of a resistance at Constant, but he had immediately diverted them to the dig site once he had heard who was attacking it, a move that made some of his men wary.

He did not fear what lay ahead; in fact, he relished the chance to fight the legendary Shepard. To end the traitor's miserable life would be more than a pleasure.

Looking at his blade he wondered what it would feel like to slit the man's throat, to see the supposedly "immortal" soldier's blood flow down the tip of his knife.

His smile abruptly it left, they had not yet reached the battle, the glory of killing the traitor could escape him if they did not move faster.

"Pilot if you do not move this shuttle faster I will be very displeased with your efforts." He hissed.

Even though the other man was behind several inches of metal he thought Whitehall thought he could make out the trembling. "Opening drop doors now sir." The man said, the terror in his voice was palpable.

Sheathing his knife Whitehall stood up and walked towards the drop doors, which slid open.

Below him he could see fighting, the squad that had arrived before theirs had attacked Shepard and his companions, but their attack had failed, they were all nearly dead, while the traitor still drew breath.

Whitehall's lips drew back into a snarl. The incompetence of the ground team disgusted him; he would show them how things were done. He drew the pair of Locusts that he had brought especially for this chance he jumped out of the shuttle. Once he had fallen thirty feet he let his jetpack lessen the fall.

Several of his men landed beside him, following the same strategy that their leader had utilized.

Their landing had not gone unnoticed however, and a burst of fire ripped through the armor of one of the men closest to him.

Laughing he charged at the enemy, weapons in hand. They would feel the wrath of a true follower of Cerberus.

(**)

The squad's chosen area of cover, the pod itself, was very limited in the protection hat it offered. The only reason they had survived this long is because the men that tried to flank them ran directly into a singularity, giving the three of them a little leeway.

As bullets pinged into the pod Shepard thought he heard someone laugh, and he wondered if their luck would keep going.

"You know, normally dual wielding SMGs would be a bad idea, but this guy…this guy's pulling it off." Garrus said in disbelief.

A voice yelled over the gunfire. "Shepard! Come out coward and face justice for your betrayal! Face me, so that I might rend the flesh from your bones with my blade!"

"He might also be insane, but that's nothing new." The Turian said brightly

Shepard fired two bursts into the yelling soldier, the man staggered back but surprisingly stayed standing.

"You'll have to do better than-" the man's words were cut off as yet another burst struck him, this hitting him in the knee. He yelped and fell to the ground, his white armor stained with his blood. Still he tried to push himself off the ground.

"Damn it Shepard! I will not die in such a pathetic way!" he yelled, getting on his feet.

"That man should be dead, or at the very least unconscious." Liara said, her voice echoing the surprise that Shepard felt.

He fired once more; hitting the man dead in the chest. Finally the soldier went down, collapsing on the ground.

The Remaining Cerberus troops, demoralized by the casualties sustained along with their leader's defeat, attempted to fall back, but were instead cut down one by one as they tried to flee.

The death of the last Cerberus trooper coincided with a loud hiss from the pod. Cautiously Shepard approached it.

The pod door opened and Shepard looked down at the waking Prothean, stepping back reflexively when he opened his eyes.

Gasping, the Prothean jumped from the pod, landing unsteadily on the ground. Upon seeing the trio he threw a biotic at Shepard and Garrus, causing the two to stagger back a few feet.

"Be careful, he's been in stasis for thousands of years, he's confused!" Liara warned.

The Prothean fell to his knees, gaping at the scene around him; he seemed almost not able to take in what he was seeing.

Walking towards him, Shepard reached down to touch his shoulder.

"Remember it's been thousands of years for us but only a few minutes-"

Thrust into yet another vision, Shepard was unable to hear the rest of her sentence.

(**)

"-a few minutes!" Javik pleaded.

"Reaper forces have already breached the inner blast doors, if they reach the core this facility will not be able to function." Victory explained.

"But there are soldiers there; they haven't had time to reach their pods yet!" Javik's mind raced, there had to be some way to save those men.

"Their sacrifice will be remembered in the coming empire" Victory intoned. "Activating the neutron purge, get to your pod Commander Javik."

Left with no choice, Javik ran to his pod, entering it just as more of the fallen arrived, the remaining defense forces rushing forward to meet them.

Once the pod was sealed Victory's voice came over the small intercom within the device.

"Neutron purge activated, closing functional blast doors." The VI announced.

The explosions rocked Javik's pod, he gritted his teeth and waited for it to end. An end that took several minutes to arrive.

"Neutron purge successful, all Reaper forces within the bunker exterminated." Victory reported.

"Damage report." Javik snapped.

"Reaper forces were able to destroy fully half of the total number of life pods, and the neutron purge destroyed a further hundred thousand." the VI's voice remained calm even through the description of such a horrific development.

Sighing Javik's head hit the bottom of the pod. _So many men lost, we will be hard pressed in the next cycle even with our forewarning._

"In addition, there was a major collapse of the ground above this structure; the main reactors for the facility have become irreparably damaged."

"What?!" Javik tried to sit up, but the hibernation systems were already knocking him out.

"Emergency procedures will be taken if power enough is lost, special effort will be made to ensure that your pod does not deactivate."

"Don't shut down any of the pods! I need them" Javik snapped, trying to fight the sleep for a little while longer.

"Their pods will be shut down as needed Commander Javik." Victory replied.


	9. Primatives

**Chapter 8**

**Primitives**

Javik didn't feel the need to talk as the primitive's transport carried them back to the ship, which the human male,"Shepard",had called _Normandy_. The word felt wrong on his tongue and the uncomfortable setting of the shuttle only made the backward tendencies of this cycle more apparent. _They are children fumbling in the dark with powers they do not understand_

His new companions did not break the silence, though the Asari looked as though the unspoken questions would cause her to burst.

Ignoring her Javik concentrated on his surroundings, taking in his situation for the first time. The plan had been partially successful, he had managed to survive the many thousand years since the fall of the Empire, however the soldiers that he was supposed to emerge with had either been killed by the Reapers or died when Victory deactivated their pods. Even the VI had fallen to the ravages of time, it was a shame; the VI would have been useful despite his residual anger towards it.

_I am the last Prothean_. This rattled him, especially considering just how far back the species of this cycle really were. How was he to lead the organic armies against the Reapers if he had no more of his kind to follow him?

No, he would have to be a soldier, one that followed a _human_. The thought still baffled him, a race that had once huddled together in caves, fighting over scraps, now championed the cause against the greatest threat that life had ever known.

Laying his hands on the seat he felt a rush of information, his sensory ability filled his mind with information. Several more humans had been here, as well as some sort of synthetic. One of the humans, a female, had been gravely injured, the other, a male, had a sort of guilt, one that seemed to dominate his thoughts and actions.

The presence of a synthetic interested him, it had been similar to the Reaper taint, however; it felt different in a way that he couldn't quite place. More than likely Shepard and his team had disabled it, he approved of the action; machines of any nature could not be trusted.

"Commander, docking with the Normandy in thirty seconds." The shuttle pilot called.

Shepard looked at Javik, "We'll get you quarters on the _Normandy_; I assume that you'd prefer a room to yourself."

"Yes" Javik answered.

The shuttle landed on the ship a few seconds later, the doors opened and Javik walked briskly inside.

He was not surprised at the stunned looks that the awaiting crew members were giving him; several times he heard the word _Prothean_ mentioned. Turning back to Shepard he waited for him to lead the way, the man was busy talking to the Turian and the Asari, they were talking in quiet tones but he could still hear them clearly.

"Set him up in the port cargo hold; see if you can make him comfortable Liara."

"I'll do what I can Shepard." She replied, nodding.

Suddenly excitement flowed across her features. "A Prothean! A living, breathing, Prothean Shepard!"

"I know, I still can't believe it myself, but let's focus on getting him settled in first, there will be plenty of time for questions later."

The Asari walked over to Javik, "If you will come with me, I can see to getting you settled in."

He nodded his ascent, and after a ride in an elevator, too slow in his mind, and it would jeopardize the crew should it be damaged during a battle, he found himself in a small room, sitting quietly as she scurried about trying to fix it up.

She worked extremely fast, she had somehow managed to clean up the room, get pools of water, and fix the lights in just an hour.

Murmuring about something else that she'd found, she literally ran out of the room, heading back to the shuttle bay he'd imagine.

Closing his eyes, he remembered the last minutes before he went into hibernation, that world had been beautiful in its time, the Reapers had taken all of that away. He had been told that the planet was called Eden Prime now, it did not matter what it was called in the end. The planet was just another world for the Reapers to harvest.

Footsteps, made him open his eyes, several humans walked in, weapons in hand. One spoke to him. "Don't be alarmed, standard procedure for dealing with new life is to assume hostile"

Javik nodded, a wise precaution, at least they had learned that much.

The Asari returned with something in her hands, she looked at the troopers in shock. "Sergeant, what are you doing?"

The soldier explained the situation, and refused to budge no matter how much she pressed him. Finally, fed up, the woman called Shepard.

It did not take long for the man to arrive, he had switched out of his armor and was now in fatigues. Javik was not an expert on human physiology, but even he knew that the man looked tired.

He looked at the Asari, "What's going on?"

"I was trying to make the room more comfortable, but they won't let me near him." She explained.

The leader of his guard stepped forward. "Sorry Doctor, but as I said, standard procedure with dealing with a new species is to assume hostile, we had to dust off the regulations."

Shepard walked towards Javik, the soldiers between them moving out of the way without a word.

"I don't think our new guest will be a problem" Shepard's eyes narrowed. "Will he?"

"That depends on you" Javik stepped forward and grasped the man by the shoulders, ignoring the raised weapons of the soldiers.

The information flowed through him. "I sense exhaustion, despair, anxiety, the Reapers are winning." Stepping back Javik looked at the man.

Shepard didn't say anything for a moment, then he nodded at the soldiers. The men saluted and left the room, he was alone with Shepard and the Asari.

"They are, but we think we've found a way to beat them." Shepard said finally

Stepping forward the Asari used a hand held holographic device, it beamed information up to the screens behind him. "We found the plans for the Crucible, we're building it now."

"Crucible?" the word was not familiar to him.

"The device your people were building, we were hoping you knew how to finish it." she informed him.

Turning to the screens he recognized the images immediately. He sighed. "We never finished it." he said somberly

"Then you don't know what the Catalyst is?" she asked

"No." Javik said, closing his eyes.

"What was your original mission Javik?" Shepard asked.

"We were supposed to go into hibernation, to await for the Reapers to return to dark space, then we were to emerge, a million strong, ready to unite and lead the new species against the Reapers, the Empire would be reborn." Anger rushed into his voice, his failure was still prevalent in his mind.

"We found more pods like the one you were in, on Ilos."

"More of my people survived?" Javik asked, surprised.

"No" Shepard said sadly. "But they sacrificed themselves to prevent the Reapers from invading three years ago, its thanks to them that we have a chance at all today"

Javik sighed "In my time Ilos was only a myth, something that the soldiers used to speak of when things were calm."

Shepard nodded sympathetically. "Tell me about your people Javik."

"You already know about our sensory ability, but amongst our people were Exemplars, avatars of different traits. Bravery, intelligence, cunning.."

"Which were you?"

"I was the Avatar of Vengeance" Javik answered, his anger rising once again. "Demanding that blood be spilled for the blood we lost. That is my purpose, my sole reason for existing"

The Asari's mouth opened slightly, as though surprised about what he had said. Javik was not surprised when Shepard chose not to continue the subject.

"Liara would never forgive me if I didn't ask, what was your empire like?"

The Asari's shock went away instantly. "Yes, I have always wondered what it was like. I've written dozens of works on your people but-"

"Amusing, the Asari final learned how to write." Javik murmured softly

The Asari stopped dead, looking at him as if affronted. "Excuse me?"

"Never mind" Javik was quiet for a moment, piecing together what he'd say.

"The Prothean Empire was vast, encompassing many hundred worlds. My species was the first to discover Mass technology in my cycle; using the relays our empire and found new races."

Leaning back on one of the pools Javik continued. "These new races would be brought into the fold, to serve us. Though they were different from us, they would all eventually call themselves Prothean."

"But what if the new species hadn't wanted to serve you?" the Asari asked.

"They would not be given a choice" Javik said firmly, eyes narrowing.

"Isn't that a little harsh?" Shepard asked disapprovingly.

"Only the strong survive in the galaxy, they evolve and grow stronger by dominating the weak, this is how it has always been, and how it will continue to be."

"This cycle is different; there are many different species that view each other as equals, not as tools" the Asari put forward. "The Turians, the Asari, Humanity, the Salarians-"

"The lizard people evolved?" Javik interrupted, surprised.

"I believe they're amphibians." She answered, smiling softly

Javik scowled at her "They used to eat flies."

She drew herself a little straighter, but did not say anything. Sharing a glance with Shepard, she walked out of the room.

"Was that necessary?" Shepard asked.

"She will learn, the galaxy is a hash place, you will either learn, or die."

"Nothing has been that cut and dry for us."

Javik looked the man in the eyes. "That is because you still believe that you can defeat the Reapers with you honor intact, don't you?"

"I do" Shepard said honestly.

Javik stepped towards him, stopping just short of touching him. "Stand in the dust of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honor mattered."

Shepard's eyes widened, he seemed unable to say anything.

"This silence is your answer." Javik said bitterly.

Turning from the human Javik went to the pools of water, washing his hands of the filth this ship somehow accrued.

He heard the door open and close again, briefly he wondered if the man was capable of what would be needed with him, but he banished the thoughts form his mind.

_They will learn, or they will die._


	10. Diplomacy

**Chapter 9**

**Diplomacy**

"So let me get this straight, the Asari aren't going to participate in one of the most important meetings in history?" Shepard asked incredulously

"My government does not want to participate in the assembly yes; we feel that there is too much hatred on both sides for anything to be accomplished." Talna answered calmly, the hologram fizzling slightly.

"Councilor we can't afford to fight amongst each other, you should know that better than anyone!" Shepard's tone wasfrustrated; Garrus knew that if that much was showing, the man must be fuming inside.

"Commander, I understand how you feel and I sympathize; but the Asari will not be at the summit, you should consider yourself lucky that the Salarians sent someone, the Delatrass was livid when she heard about the Krogan." Talna was looking upwards, away from Shepard.

_So we've lost the Asari. That complicates things._ Garrus shifted uncomfortably, despite their best efforts, his father and the Commander had never quite managed to banish his disdain for politicians. _It's their fault that the Reapers achieved such surprise! If they hadn't been too afraid to admit what was in front of them we'd be far better off._ He thought bitterly.

"Councilor, the Krogan want to help, and their support will make any Coalition drastically stronger." Shepard reasoned.

"Commander I am sorry that I cannot offer you more support, but you are a Spectre; this will at least allow you to speak for humanity and the Council. With how much things have changed; I am not sure how much that means in the scheme of things. However whatever decision you make will have the backing of the Council." Outwardly she was very calm, but her eyes belied the anxiety she felt.

Her pledge was surprising, though she wasn't disobeying what her government wanted; she was giving peripheral support through her position as a Councilor. It didn't aid them too awfully much, but it showed that the Council was realizing the hard truth that their position was mattering less and less as individual species focused on protecting themselves, and not doing as the Council willed.

Thinking about it Garrus realized that the Council had been losing power ever since Saren had betrayed them and joined the Reapers. Sovereign and the Gethhad nearly broken the Council, and they had been severely shaken by the rapid unfolding of events that had led to their current situation.

"Thank you Councilor, I appreciate it." Shepard sighed.

Talna nodded "Goodbye Commander."

The hologram winked out of existence, Shepard stepped back from the terminal, rubbing his eyes.

"Are you alright Shepard?"

"I'm fine" Shepard said gruffly. "EDI; how long until we get to the Rendezvous site?"

"We should be there shortly, the Salarians and the Krogan are there already, and both have refused to board each other's ships." EDI reported

After a moment EDI spoke again "They are both willing to use the _Normandy_ as a neutral meeting ground."

"Let's get them onboard. EDI tell the Primarch to prepare for the meeting."

"Yes, Shepard."

Shepard stood in silence for a moment; Garrus felt the need to say something but couldn't think of anything appropriate to say, so he busied himself with examining the walls, which were painted in the dark grey that humans seemed to prefer.

"Wrex is the Krogan leader now. That should at least that will give us an advantage in negotiations" Shepard said aloud.

"Well having an old friend in a high place will be pretty damn helpful, even if it's an old angry Krogan like Wrex." Garrus joked.

Shepard laughed "Let's hope that he's more talkative than he used to be."

"You'd better get dressed then Shepard, as nice as Alliance fatigues look, I don't think they'll cut it here." Garrus said brightly, patting his friend on the back. "You know how Salarians are."

"Well, I do look good in my dress blues" Shepard said with a smile, already walking.

"Liara won't be able to resist you in those" Garrus remained behind, Shepard had given him the okay to make a couple of calls after he had finished with the councilor.

"She already can't Garrus,"

(**)

It took him a few minutes to get ready, EDI informed him of each of the attending parties' arrival. Once he was in his Dress Uniform he made his way to the Conference room. The first thing that Shepard heard as he drew close was the sounds of furious voices raging against each other.

"The Krogan has no business being here!" the Salarian Delatross said angrily.

"The Krogan has a name; Urdnot Wrex." Wrex growled, his hands tightening around the table. "And I'm not just some Junkyard Varren that you unshackle every time you need a problem solved!"

Wrex nodded to Shepard as he walked in, and then turned his gaze back to the Delatross.

"Wrex has every right to be here, especially if Palaven wants even the hope of having Krogan relief." Shepard said firmly.

"I've got my own problems" Wrex snapped. "Reaper's have been spotted on Tuchanka, so why should I care if a few billion Turians go extinct?"

"What is it that you want Wrex?" Victus asked.

"I'll tell you what I need." Wrex stared across the table at the Turian. "A cure…for the Genophage."

The Salarian Delatross was shocked into silence for a moment. "Absolutely not; the Genophage is non-negotiable."

"The Krogan deserve a cure Delatross, now more than ever." Shepard was the only one here that Wrex respected; he hoped that was enough to keep the Krogan in line. "How many years has the Genophage existed."

"One thousand four hundred and seventy-six years. If you're keeping track." Wrex said bitterly.

"It was a thousand years of peace, free from these…_brutes_." The Delatross threw up her hands in disgust.

"Enough!" Primarch Victus bellowed, slamming his hands on the table. "Whether or not he Krogan deserve a cure is academic, it would take years to formulate one."

Wrex crossed his arms. "My sources say otherwise." Tapping on his Omni-tool, the lights dimmed, one of the windows, serving a double purpose as both a viewport and a vid screen, suddenly displayed the image of some sort of a dark facility, one that Shepard recognized as a science facility.

There were Salarians everywhere, and from the dim shadow on the ground, Shepard guessed that the one taking the recording was a Salarian as well. The man recording it ran forward, giving a closer look at some containment cells.

"Last year a Salarian scientist named Maelon was on my planet, trying to cure the Genophage." Wrex informed.

Thinking back to when he and Mordin had raided the facility that Maelon had been using Shepard shuddered. "I remember him, his methods were barbaric."

"But what you didn't know was that some of the females survived the experiments, and escaped into the wilds."

The vid zoomed in again, focusing on one of the cells. Inside were the silhouettes of several female Krogan.

The Delatross jerked back as if struck. "How can you be sure that this is true? It-it could be a fabrication!"

"Don't you lie to me!" Wrex snarled. "Those are my people, they're immune to the Genophage and I want them back!"

"And how would curing the Genophage benefit my people?" the Delatross scoffed.

"Unless you cure the Genophage your people won't survive this war." Shepard said, venom in his voice.

"And I'll be the last friendly Turian you'll ever see." Victus said darkly.

The Delatross held her face in her palm for a moment, letting out a long breath before answering. "The females are being held in one of our STG bases on Sur'kesh."

"Let's go get them!" Wrex said, excitedly, already walking towards the door.

"You can't just go and get them, this will take time!" The Delatross snapped, holding out a hand as if to stop the Krogan.

"It happens now, as a Council Spectre Shepard can oversee the process." Victus said with a tone of finality.

Shepard, Victus, and Wrex walked out of the room, but the Delatross did not let them leave without one final remark.

"I will not forget this Commander! A bully has few friends when he needs them most"

(**)

"We're almost there Commander, should be a quick in and out mission for once." Cortez reported, eyes focused on the display in front of him.

Shepard nodded and looked back at his squad; no one was talking at the moment, the hum of the shuttle's engines being the only sound.

Wrex was fighting, pacing back and forth agitatedly, muttering something Shepard couldn't hear.

"I'm glad that the Salarians were willing to let the females go so easily, we can't afford division right now." The human said, almost to himself.

"I still don't trust a word they say." Wrex looked like he was bracing himself for a fight. To him; the Salarians were an enemy, it would take a great deal to change that outlook.

"We'll get them back Wrex" Liara said, smiling warmly at her old companion.

"Thanks Liara, I wouldn't want anyone else along for the ride." The old Krogan grinned down at the Asari.

"The Salarians cooperation does signify a change in mindset considering the Genophage, however; in the past Salarians have performed actions, with the full intention to not honor their promise to the other party. I would suggest caution." EDI was sitting down still, and had donned a dark blue uniform with a yellow trim.

Shepard had tried to convince her to wear some armor but she had deflected his efforts stating "that her body was more than adequate to weather small to medium arms, and armor would protect it from heavy arms anyway"

"Who's the synthetic?" Wrex eyed the AI warily.

"I am the _Normandy_'s artificial intelligence; my friends prefer to call me EDI"

Shepard smiled to himself; she was gaining emotions even if no one had recognized it yet.

Wrex grunted. "As long as you don't start blabbering on about being the vanguard of our destruction, I don't care."

The sound of Cortez swearing broke their . "Commander, we've got a problem"

Wrex and Shepard both looked up when the man had spoken, walking over to the cockpit Shepard looked to his pilot. "What's going on Lieutenant?"

"The base isn't letting us land; they're claiming we don't have the clearance."

"I knew they'd try something!" Wrex snarled.

"Take us down Lieutenant, we're landing, whether they like it or not." Shepard's hands balled into fists. _Dammit, why do they have to make things difficult?_

"Yes sir"

"They are not keeping my people down there!" Wrex stomped over to the shuttle doors, slamming his fist into the controls. The doors opened and a rush of air nearly drowned out the next thing he said. "Let's see if they can stop a Krogan airdrop."

"Wrex, what are you-" Shepard stopped midsentence and watched in disbelief as Wrex leapt from the shuttle with a roar.


	11. STG

**Chapter 10**

**STG**

The pavement cracked and shattered when Wrex slammed into the ground, standing up from the miniature crater he had created, he looked defiantly at the approaching Salarians.

"We have an unauthorized…landing" a very surprised Salarian reported over the intercom.

"Put the shuttle down Cortez" Shepard barked his eyes locked on the scene below. _Damn it Wrex_

The guards reached the enraged warrior, weapons at the ready. "Halt!" one ordered.

"_You_ don't have authorization to keep _my_ people hostage!" Wrex reared back, charging up his biotics. Jerking out his arm, a bolt of biotic energy slammed into the pair of Salarians, throwing them off their feet and into a nearby wall.

Shepard felt his heart race when his friend reached for his shotgun, but the Krogan stopped short when more Salarian guards arrived, with enough firepower to take even him down.

Not waiting for the shuttle to land, Shepard jumped out, and raced over to his comrade, praying that this situation could be recovered,

"Stand down, stand down! Hold your fire!" a high pitched voice yelled. Another Salarian, this one wearing black armor, sprinted up to the group.

"Commander Shepard please restrain your colleague, we only hear about this transfer a few moments ago!" the Salarian pleaded.

Wrex growled incoherently, shifting his gaze to the new speaker.

"Wrex, if you want to see the females you have to calm down." Shepard whispered, barely audible. The Krogan's eye briefly jerked to him, but outwardly he gave no sign of having heard him.

"He'll be fine, I want to avoid a diplomatic incident." Shepard said evenly.

"As would we, you and your men are welcome here, but I must insist that your companion be under guard." The Salarian insisted.

"Not a chance…" Wrex muttered.

"Wrex I can take care of this, you know I won't let anything happen to the females." By this time Shepard companions had reached him, taking up position behind him.

Wrex said nothing for a moment then nodded reluctantly. "Anything goes wrong and all bets are off." Putting his shotgun away he allowed himself to be brought over to a small area near the landing pad, though he seemed more amused by the guards than annoyed.

The black armored Salarian sighed in relief. "Thank you Commander, my name is Padok Wilks; I've been assigned to assist you in this process."

"I can't imagine you get many Spectre visits to this facility Wilks." Shepard said conversationally, gesturing for the Salarian to lead the way.

"Not enough to make this seem a regularity, but we do know how to handle the delicate situations that arise when Special Tactics and Reconnaissance is involved." Wilks answered brightly.

"Delicate as in Krogan females?" Shepard probed.

Wilks shook his head in disapproval. "The females were in poor condition when we recovered them, Maelon's tests had sapped most of their strength from them already, and Tuchanka is a very harsh environment in the best of times." Several more Salarians were milling about around them, Shepard briefly heard someone say something about strange signals, but Wilks spoke again, drowning out the conversation.

"I'm glad at least that we were able to help these females, the Krogan have suffered enough." Wilks said firmly.

"You don't approve of the Genophage?" That was surprising.

"Any race deserves to fight for their survival, and with the war being what it is, the Genophage helps no one." Wilks answered black eyes focused on Shepard.

Another Salarian walked up "Excuse me sir, we need your final approval."

"If you will excuse me Commander, I'll see to getting you inside." Wilks said with a polite smile.

Shepard nodded him taking the chance to look around the area. A railing was nearby; Shepard walked over and leaned on it, taking in the scenery for the first time.

It was like a city combined with a jungle, vines and trees grew in between large concrete buildings, and rivers flowed peacefully directly under a gunship platform. A Cruiser came in for landing, dropping out of a blue, cloudy sky.

The conflicting images, peace and war, irked Shepard, but he couldn't figure out why.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Liara breathed, speaking for the first time.

"Yes, it almost makes you forget there's a war on."

"Sur'kesh has been described as the "most dangerous peaceful planet" in Council space; the Salarians seem to like this metaphor." EDI put in.

"I can believe it" Shepard pulled back from the railing, and started moving towards the elevator, a Salarian was fiddling with a terminal nearby, and for some reason this one struck a chord in his memory.

Stopping he looked at the black armored alien, who must have sensed his presence. Standing up he turned to Shepard, a smile etched on his familiar face.

"Commander Shepard, I was hoping to see you again, it's been a long time since we last worked together." The Salarian said brightly, extending his hand. "Major Kirahee if you've forgotten. "

Shepard took the proffered hand. "Good to see you too Major, it sounds like you moved up after we destroyed Saren's base on Virmire."

"Yes, quite ironic really, we destroyed the Genophage cure back then, and we're trying to cure it ourselves now." Kirahee mused. "Still, we did what was best, can you imagine the destruction an army of Reaper-loyal Krogan could have caused?"

"It was for the best" Shepard echoed.

"Do you think that your race is ready for the war?" Shepard asked.

"It's hard to think that any species could be ready for the Reapers, what they're capable of is simply astounding." Kirahee frowned, deep in thought.

Shaking his head he continued. "I've heard about what the Reapers have done to Earth, you have my deepest condolences."

"Thanks Major, with any luck we'll stop the Reapers before any more worlds fall."

Kirahee smiled again. "We'll need lots of luck to stop them I'm afraid, but just in case, you can count on _my_ personal support for a certain plan that you may or may not have in motion."

"You'd do that?" Shepard asked in surprise.

"Consider it my way of repaying a favor. I'd be happy to fight alongside you again, even if it's Reapers we're fighting instead of Geth." The Salarian said firmly.

"Thank you Major, your support means a lot." Shepard said gratefully.

"Of course Commander, it's the least that I could do." Kirahee looked to the elevator, where Wilks was finishing up with the clearance issue. "Looks like you've got a job to do, good luck Commander."

"Goodbye Major" Shepard gestured to the ladies, and walked towards the elevator.

As he drew closer Shepard heard a few snippets of the conversation between Wilks and a pair of technicians.

"Another perimeter alert?" Wilks was asking.

"Yes, just a brief one, nothing that would be detected by the average system, it's almost as if they're testing our boundaries."

"I don't like it, keep everyone on alert." Wilks ordered.

As the techs ran off to comply with his command, Wilks turned back towards his guests.

"Sorry for the delay Commander, but this isn't a normal thing."

"It's fine-" Shepard began but cut off when alarms starting going off.

An automated voice called out over the din. "Warning Threat condition Two declared, enemy forces detected within established perimeters."

A pair of gunships docked nearby, suddenly lifted off, rushing off into the distance to engage whatever targets had arisen. Shepard could see Wrex, still standing near the shuttle. The Krogan walked right past his guards to the shuttle. The Salarians didn't seem too upset by his leaving.

Wilks waved them onwards. "Don't worry Commander, we'll handle whatever it is, just get downstairs and deal with the females."

Shepard nodded, walking into the awaiting elevator. EDI and Liara followed him, standing on either side of the human.

"I'm glad we wore armor" Liara said softly.

"Given the chance of combat, I believe you'll it appreciate more." EDI said brightly.

The ride was short, emphasizing the Salarian need to do things with expediency. Stepping out, Shepard stopped to examine the ordered chaos of the lower facility. The Alarms were still sounding; Scientists and techs were rushing all over, attempting to secure the data the structure housed.

As the throng cleared out, Shepard have a star, seeing another familiar face.

Mordin Solus strode up to him, grinning broadly. "Shepard! Nice to see you again. Good to have you here."

"Mordin! What are you doing here?"

"Came here once I heard about females, my expertise in this field is unparalleled logical choice for the assignment."

Mordin looked around before leaning closer to him. "Also fed data to Clan Urdnot, helped Wrex learn about females."

"I'm glad it was you Mordin, how are the females holding up?"

Mordin was silent for a moment the shook his head. "Poor health when STG found them, did the best I could." Tapping on his Omni-tool a window nearby opened, revealing half a dozen bodies wrapped in body bags. Another window opened to reveal a single female restrained tightly, she appeared to be inside of some sort of container. "Could only save one."

"You did the best you could Mordin." Shepard said solemnly.

"Couldn't save them Shepard, my responsibility." Mordin said firmly. "Will not let harm come to the last one."

"Will have to evacuate her Shepard, alarms not normal, this facility not safe." He continued, walking over to a panel near the female.

Shepard looked at the Krogan, taking a few steps towards her. "Can you hear me?" he asked.

"Are you here to kill me?" she replied.

"No, I'm here to help you."

"Why? What am I to you?" she asked softly. _She sounds awful_ Shepard thought.

"You're the future of the Krogan, I'm fighting for that." Shepard, flinched as an explosion rocked the compound.

"Then I hope you brought an army." The Krogan's eyes flashed.

Mordin stepped up next to the container and activated the nearby panel, after a moment the container moved forward, revealing a small area in which a person could stand.

"Will bring her to the landing area, there are checkpoints you will have to clear us through, take elevator to access them." Mordin said, jumping aboard the container, a translucent door closing behind him.

Shepard looked up at the Krogan, whose prison was being lifted up and away. "You'll See Tuchunka again, don't worry."

Another explosion hit the compound. "Get to elevator Shepard!" Mordin barked.

The container was lifted up and out of the room, Shepard signaled the ladies and they ran to the elevator.

A Salarian tech was waiting for them. "I'll get this opened for you Commander." His Omni-tool lit up and the elevator doors slammed open. On the floor inside of the elevator was a metallic cylindrical device.

"Bomb!" Shepard yelled. "Get back!"

He had enough time to turn around before the room exploded into flame.


End file.
